Hogwarts: A History: A Muggleborn Survival Guide
by overcheatedXdreamer
Summary: Ever since Sarah met Lily Potter, she couldn't wait to become a witch and go to school with the rest of the Potter and Weasley clan. After all, how hard could wizarding school be? She's about to find out.
1. Meet the Potters

**Disclaimer: All recognizable places and characters in the story do not belong to me.**

"You prat. There is no such thing as magic," the older boy exclaimed. The girl frowned.

"Yes there is, Alex. I _can_ do magic," she insisted. The boy smiled mockingly.

"All right then, Sarah. Do some magic for me. Right now," he demanded, gesturing around him. Now Sarah became nervous.

"Well, I can't really-" Alex smiled triumphantly, jumping from the monkey bars down to the ground. Sarah didn't follow. She was afraid of heights, and not big enough to make such a jump.

"I knew it," he hooted. "Liar, liar, liar," he sang running around the playground and kicking up dirt as he went along. The sun shone down, making the Alex's blonde hair look like a halo around his head.

"I am not!" Sarah shouted, her bottom lip starting to tremble and her eyes filling with tears. Alex looked at her in surprise, and his entire demeanor changed. He gave her a gentle smile and held out his arms so she could jump off the monkey bars. Sarah glared at him and stubbornly hung there until he grabbed her about the waist and set her down on the gravel. They walked over to a bench, and Alex grabbed her hand as they sat down.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. I didn't mean to make you cry. But you can't go around fibbing like that," he told her. Sarah snatched her hand away and leaped up from the bench. 

"I. Am. Not. Lying!" she yelled, stomping her foot after each word. On the last stomp though, something happened. All of the rage that had only a moment ago been aimed at Alex and her inability to do magic while he was around was gone, and a spark crackled near Alex's hand. A second ago there had been soft tanned skin. Now there was a small cut near his thumb, bleeding steadily. Both children looked at each other in horror, before Sarah finally spoke.

"Alex. I didn't mean to. Really, I didn't. I'm so sorry!" she told him tearfully. The boy snatched his hand away from her and got to his feet, shaking his head.

"Stay away from me," he told her. His eyes wide with fear. Sarah tried to explain, but he cut her off and pointed a finger at her. "Don't come near me, anymore! I mean it, you weirdo!" With that, he took off down the gravel road, leaving the little girl standing in the middle of the play ground by herself. The sun was starting to set by the time Sarah sniffed and wiped away her tears, so she began the trek to her home, three neighborhoods away. 

She decided that she didn't like England. The air was heavier, it rained a lot, and the other children in her class mocked her American accent. She thought about how wonderful it would have been if her real father were still alive. He had died in a car accident when Sarah was four. And then, last year, her mother became engaged to a man from Surrey who had been visiting America. In only two weeks, her mother had become Mrs. Jonathan Abernathy and moved them all to Jonathan's house in a small town called Godrics Hollow. Sarah did like Jonathan. He was very nice and played games with her and made dinner (her mother was a terrible cook). But he wasn't her real father, and was now the whole reason that she had lost one of her only friends. If he hadn't convinced her mother to move to England, she wouldn't have made friends with Alex, and she wouldn't have hurt him. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't watch where she was going, and ran into someone. Hard.

"_Oomph," _they both said out loud on impact. She looked up to see a girl about her own age with long red hair and brown eyes staring back at her. She tried to place who this familiar girl was, and suddenly recognized her as one of the Potter children a few blocks from her own home.

"Sorry," she said, and then frowned, "Are you crying?" Sarah shook her head and wiped a hand across her eyes. Only then did she notice that she had walked in the completely opposite direction when she had meant to go home. The area did not look familiar to her. The girl recognized the lost look on Sarah's face. She reached out and grabbed Sarah's hand, then started leading Sarah down the street. She looked at the girl in surprise.

"Come to my house. Daddy can call your parents and Mummy can make us some cocoa," the girl insisted. Sarah watched her warily, then broke into a wide smile. 

"Okay. I'm Sarah," she told the girl. 

"I'm Lily." 

The two girls continued to skip down the street, swinging arms and giggling as they jumped over cracks in the road and chased passing squirrels and birds. The night air was warm, but not humid like usual. There was a pleasant scent of flowers and baking. The houses were all quaint two level cottages, a decent size, although it looked a bit cramped for more than four people. Lily stopped outside of one. It had a wooden fence and long gravel driveway in which was parked a small green van. In the front yard was a pretty red haired woman in jeans and an airy blue blouse. She saw Sarah and Lily come up the driveway, and ran down to meet them. 

"Oh thank goodness you're okay!" she cried as she ran down the driveway. Lily rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine, Mummy. Honest," she insisted. The woman stopped in front of them and pulled Lily into a huge bear hug. Sarah stood aside and watched. Suddenly, the woman pulled back from Lily and grabbed her shoulders, the look on her face and tone of her voice heated. 

"Don't you ever do that again, Lily Ginevra Potter! You know you aren't allowed to run around after dark!" she said. "What if something had happened to you? What if you had DIED?" she shouted. Sarah was shocked at how worried Lily's mother was, but the little girl looked as though she got this every other day. She tapped her foot impatiently and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry, Mum. I would have been home on time, but then I found Sarah, and she was lost, so I told her to come home with me so we could call her Mum and Dad to come pick her up," Lily explained impatiently. Her mother looked around in confusion, and her gaze finally lighted on Sarah. She smiled gently, and then sighed.

"All right, Lily. Since you have a good reason you won't be punished. But this is the only time I will allow it," she said. Lily grinned and nodded her head, then grabbed Sarah's hand and led her inside. Just as they opened the door, Lily's mother stepped in front of them. "I'll tell your father you are home." Sarah made to follow her inside, but Lily pulled her back to the lawn, looking a bit worried.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked her new friend. Lily pointed to a wooden crate with mesh screening on the front side of it. 

"My mum got me a bunny. Do you want to see him?" Sarah nodded excitedly, and they squealed and cooed over how cute it was. It was tiny and black, with a white cottony tail. When they put their faces up to the mesh, it sniffed at their noses and it's whiskers tickled. Lily's mother called them both inside and both girls ran back to the house. Sarah thought the cottage was as lovely on the inside as it was on the outside. It looked like something out of a story book. The oak floors, cheery yellow walls, and large bay windows made the house comfortable and warm. 

"Lily! You're home!" called a male voice. Out of a nearby doorway stepped a tall, lean man with jet black hair and jewel green eyes. He was followed closely by Lily's mother. Lily rolled her eyes, but allowed herself to be pulled into her father's embrace. After being berated for a second time about wandering after dark, the adults led the two children into the kitchen. Lily and Sarah took seats at the table.

"Hello. I'm sorry you had to sit through both mine and Ginny's lectures. We tend to get a little over anxious about our girl," he grinned fondly at Lily.

"It's all right. I don't mind," Sarah muttered shyly.

"I'm Harry Potter, and this is my wife, Ginny," the man said, indicating first himself, and then the woman at the stove. She gave the Sarah a rather distracted smile, and then stared in confusion at the stove. She was still holding the pot of water, as if she didn't know what to do with it.

"You're in Mrs. Weston's class, aren't you?" Sarah's attention was drawn away from Ginny, and Harry, who had gone over to help his wife, and back to Lily's attentive gaze. "Sarah's in year 5, like me," she explained to her parents.

"That's wonderful. If Sarah likes maths, maybe she can help you bring up your marks," Ginny responded. Lily just laughed. Suddenly, the little girl sobered up. "Why were you crying when I saw you in the park?"

Sarah hesitated. She really wanted to trust Lily, but she didn't want Lily to get scared and run away like Alex had. She tried to blink back her tears, but the story broke out of her before she could stop herself. When she was finished, she realized that Harry was staring at her with his mouth wide open, Ginny had dropped one of the mugs of hot chocolate with a loud _crash_, and Lily looked positively delighted. She ran over to Sarah and hugged her. Too shocked to do anything else, Sarah hugged her back. This was not the reaction she had been expecting.

"Oh you're just like us! I'm so glad, Sarah, I really am! Now you can meet my cousins, and maybe we'll even go to Hogwarts together-" 

"Lily!" 

The red-head quickly stopped speaking, and sent a nervous glance at her father. He looked positively livid, as did Ginny. Sarah looked from Lily, to her parents, utterly confused.

"Like you? What are you talking about? And what is a Hogwarts?" Ginny marched over to Lily, and told her to leave. 

"Go to your room. You can see Sarah some other time. Harry, can you call Sarah's parents to come pick her up?" Screaming about how unfair it was that she was getting in trouble, Lily stomped out of the room. She could hear her on the upper level, stomping to her room, and there was a sound of a door slamming. The kitchen was silent, until Ginny handed Sarah a mug of hot chocolate.

"Here you go, darling." Sarah wiped a hand across her face to dry away her tears and sniffed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get Lily in trouble." Ginny smiled. It was obvious where Lily had gotten her stunning looks. She was the picture of her mother, the same fiery red hair, brown eyes, freckles and high cheekbones.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Ginny assured the girl. Sarah shook her head, her chestnut curls bouncing as she did so. 

"I hurt Alex. And now Lily is going to be mad at me because she is being punished." Ginny studied Sarah carefully, and then sighed.

"Lily won't be mad at you. Trust me. As for what happened with Alex, I can tell you this: you aren't alone." Now Sarah was surprised.

"But…what do you mean?"

"Sarah, there are not many people that will understand your story. Let me ask you: have you ever made things happen? It doesn't have to be hurting someone, like you did to Alex, but have you ever accidentally made something happen that you can't explain when you were really angry or really happy?" Sarah tried to think hard.

There had been a few times. There was the time when she was seven when she saw that rock video on the TV. She asked her mom if she could get pretty pink hair like the woman on TV, but she said no. The next day, Sarah woke up, her hair hot pink. Or when she and Alex had been playing tag. She had always been slow, and ever time he tried to get up to chase her, he would trip over something on the ground and fall on his face. There was never anything in front of him to cause him to trip. Ginny watched Sarah as she sorted through all of the strange things that had happened to her without any explanation. She smiled and nodded. Sarah was ecstatic.

"So I'm not weird like Alex said!" she shouted happily. Ginny laughed.

"No, love. You are far from weird. I think you are a very special girl, and very sweet." Sarah's face lit up and she threw herself at Ginny, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck. Ginny hugged her back, and called Harry back into the room. "Did you call her parents?" Harry nodded and pushed his messy hair out of his face.

"Yes. They were very worried about her, but I explained the situation and they were very relieved. I also asked if Sarah could stay for dinner, and they said of course. I'll drive you home, if you do want to stay," he added to Sarah. She smiled and thanked him enthusiastically. He walked out of the room, but not before she noticed something on his forehead. It was a very noticeable scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. He noticed where she was looking and blushed, his hand automatically going up to cover the blemish. Sarah started to apologize for staring, but Harry stopped her.

"That's a story that you'll get to hear another time, I'm sure," Harry said kindly, pointing at the scar and leaving. Ginny told Sarah that she could take her hot chocolate to the living room, and Lily could come back down. As Sarah was led into the living room, a door slammed at the back of the house, and tons of yelling could be heard. Ginny shook her head and muttered something under her breath, then walked off to meet the voices. Sarah showed herself into the living room. Inside, there was a long brown leather couch, an oak coffee table, and a TV. On the shelves were little bowls of candy, and lots of pictures. 

There were a few family portraits, Lily and her brothers, one of whom she recognized as a year ahead of them. The other brother looked almost exactly like Lily, but did have Harry's thin face and messy hair, though his was red instead of black. There was a wedding portrait of Ginny and Harry. Others were harder to place. There was an older boy with sandy blonde hair and black eyes, wearing a very odd graduation robe and standing with his arm around Harry's shoulders. A larger portrait showed Lily, her brothers, and many other children.

"Those are my cousins," said a voice from behind Sarah. She jumped out of surprise and turned to face Lily, who had pulled the picture down from the wall and was pointing at each face. "Fred, Delia and Roxanne are all Uncle George and Auntie Angie's kids. Victoire, Dominique, and Louis are Uncle Bill's and Aunt Fleur's children. Uncle Charlie and Aunt Rachel have Sandra, Helen, Jane, and Christopher, and Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey have Molly and Lucy. And those two are Rose and Hugo. You'll meet them tonight. They're having dinner with us tonight since Albus and James have been at their house all day." Sarah stared at Lily, her mouth wide open.

"Wow, you sure have a lot of family," she said enviously. Lily grinned and shrugged.

"Yeah. But it isn't as great as it sounds. This is the quietest this house has been sine the school year ended." Sarah studied the picture carefully, and then pointed to the sandy haired boy that was in the other picture with Harry. 

"Who is that, then?" she asked Lily. The little girl's face brightened. "That's Teddy."

"Is he your cousin too?" Lily's face lost some of the shine it had, and she shook her head somberly. 

"No. He's my god brother. My dad helped his grandmother raise Teddy after his parents died. He thinks of my dad as his dad too. He'll be coming over later too."

"Or maybe he's already here…" Both girls looked to the doorway. Teddy was leaning on the doorjamb, brushing his blonde hair away from his face and grinning brilliantly. Lily squealed and shot over to him, enveloping him in a huge hug. Teddy laughed and ruffled the girl's hair.

"Hey there, squirt. What have you been up to?" he asked. 

Lily shook her head. "Nothing. This is my new friend, Sarah," she said, pointing at Sarah from Teddy's arms. Teddy put her down and walked over to Sarah.

"Nice to meet you," he said, holding out his hand. Sarah looked down at the floor, too shy to look the handsome boy directly in the eye. But she did take his hand.

"You too," she mumbled. A cough was heard from the doorway. Another squeal was heard from Lily. 

"Victoire!" In the doorway was possibly the most beautiful girl Sarah had ever seen. She looked to be Teddy's age, and she had long, silver hair and beautiful sapphire eyes. Her lean figure rivaled that of any supermodel Sarah had ever seen in the magazines, but she had the glow of a perfectly healthy young girl.

Victoire laughed and kissed Lily on both cheeks. "Hello, Lily dear. I hope you do not mind that I'll be joining you all for dinner as well." Victoire's accent had a different ring to it, another accent underlying that of the common British or Irish accents that Sarah heard at school or around the town. Her consonants were sharper and she did not fully pronounce her "R's". Lily happily shouted that she did not mind and introduced Sarah.

"She and Teddy are boyfriend and girlfriend," Lily whispered loudly to Sarah. Both teens flushed and muttered something about not having said hi or Harry or Ginny. The little girls laughed for awhile after the two had left. When they finally calmed down and their giggles subsided, they thought about what they could play until dinner was ready. Sarah had an idea.

"What about hide-and-go-seek?" Sarah suggested. A puzzled frown crossed Lily's face.

"What is that?" Just as Sarah was about to explain, Ginny entered. This time she had four more children in tow. The two eldest boys Sarah recognized as Lily's brothers, and her cousins Rose and Hugo. The introductions were made all over again, and Ginny left the children to their own devices. Teddy and Victoire entered only seconds after Ginny left. Sarah soon decided that the Potter household was a very busy and confusing place. People were always coming and going. It turned out that Teddy and Victoire were both bored and wanted to see what the younger ones were doing.

"Sarah is going to teach us how to play hide-and-go-seek!" Hugo exclaimed. Seven pairs of eyes focused on her, waiting for her to explain the rules to the game. Sarah couldn't believe that none of them knew how to play, although they all seemed excited when they found out what they had to do. Sarah was especially confused by Victoire and Teddy. She had older cousins, but whenever they came to visit, they just wanted to do boring adult stuff. Victoire and Teddy seemed to genuinely take an interest in hanging out with their cousins. Sarah desperately wished that her family was like the Potter family.

Sarah elected herself to be Seeker so that the other kids could familiarize themselves with the rules of the game. But when Sarah got to fifty and turned around, she remembered that they hadn't set boundaries. She realized that she was going to have to search the entire house for the seven kids. Sarah set about the task quickly. Judging by the shouts and scuffling heard while she was counting, there was nobody in the living room. She first checked the kitchen. Harry and Ginny were in there with two other adults. They introduced themselves as Ron and Hermione Weasley, Rose and Hugo's parents. They all laughed while Sarah scoured the room for any of the children. A subtle cough and nod toward one of the cabinets from Harry led Sarah to Rose. She pulled a sour face and laughed when Sarah pulled open the cabinet, and then helped Sarah locate the rest of them. 

They spent the next hour and a half playing the game. They soon found out the Victoire and Teddy were much too good at it, and after spending a half hour looking for them in the third round, they unofficially kicked the two out of the game. Sarah loved playing with the Potters and Weasleys. She told Lily countless times that her family was way cool. 

Dinner was much the same as playing tag. Everyone was loud and there was lots of laughter. There was only one moment of silence during all of dinner, when James asked his dad if they could go see the Quidditch world cup. Harry dropped his fork and glared at his son, and Ron received much the same look from his wife when he exclaimed that it would be a brilliant idea.

"What?" they both whined. Hermione subtly nodded at Sarah. A look of realization settled on Ron's and James' faces and they both grinned and shrugged.

"What is Quidditch?" Sarah asked. Ginny shifted uneasily.

"Well," she began, spearing a piece of broccoli on her fork, "it's a sport."

Hermione snorted. "A very pointless one," she added. Everyone in the room glared daggers at her and she laughed. "You see what it does to people?" she said to Sarah. The girl giggled as Ron complained that it was not a stupid sport.

"I've never heard of it. It must be really popular here in England," she said. Harry shrugged. Albus turned wide eyes to Sarah.

"That's right! You're the American girl!" he said. Ginny reached over and ruffled his hair.

Among his protests of "Mum, stop it!" Ginny said, "That's rude, Albus! You know better than that!" James and the other kids cracked up and Albus' face turned bright red. Only Sarah stopped laughing when she saw that he was very embarrassed. He smiled gratefully at her and she grinned back shyly. James watched the exchange, remembering, Sarah was sure, to tease him about it later, judging by the mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Where did you live before?" Rose asked. Sarah took a bite of potatoes. 

"I was born in Salem, and then I moved to Seattle after my dad died." Harry's eyes softened.

"I'm very sorry." Sarah shrugged.

"It's okay. I don't remember him much, and I really like my stepdad. He's really fun," she explained. "I just wish I could've gotten to know my real dad better." Harry smiled at her.

"I know what you mean. Both of my parents died when I was very young also." There was a clatter of forks. All of the children had stopped eating and were watching Harry eagerly. He noticed this and cleared his throat. "Luckily, I had the Weasleys. They took me in like I was their own, and I'm very grateful for it." The adults all exchanged dark looks with each other, and then turned to the kids. "Why don't you all run along and play? We'll tell you when dessert is ready." All of the children except for Sarah complained loudly at being sent away, and even Teddy and Victoire were told, to their surprise, that they could not stay. The younger ones left the room, and before they could turn around the door had slammed shut behind them. Sarah made to go into the living room, but stopped when she realized nobody was following. Instead, all of them were huddled around the door and whispering quietly. 

Sarah tapped Rose on the shoulder. "What's going on?" Rose rolled her eyes and grinned at Sarah.

"What does it look like? Uncle Harry almost let something slip. Him and Mum and Dad and Auntie Gin never talk about when they were kids, and you almost made him say something. They're probably in there saying all sorts of stuff we would never find out if we don't listen." Sarah shrugged and joined the group. Teddy shushed them all and pulled out a long, thin piece of wood. 

"Teddy, no!" Hugo whispered fervently, his eyes wide with panic. "She's a Muggle! We'll get in trouble with the Ministry and you'll have landed yourself a cell in Azkaban!" Lily smacked Hugo in the arm, causing him to wince.

"Do you honestly think he would perform magic in front of her if she were a Muggle? She's one of us." All of the children instantly faced Sarah, who was completely awed by everything they were saying.

"Magic? You can do magic, too?" she asked. Teddy looked taken aback.

"Yes." Sarah studied him hard, figuring out how to phrase her next question. The other kids were starting to get anxious and asking Teddy to do something to the door.

"Then why can't I do it when other people are around? Whenever I want to do magic I can't, but when I get really mad, all of a sudden it pops out of nowhere?" Lily laid a hand on her shoulder. 

"Because you don't know how to use it. Muggle-borns usually don't. I have a toy wand, but it can't really do anything big. And it's okay to do magic, just not in front of Muggles, or outside of school after you start getting trained," she explained. Sarah felt a ball of warmth growing inside her stomach. She wasn't weird. And she was doing real magic! She pushed back her curly hair and tried to ask Lily something else, but the girl shushed her quickly. They all stared at Teddy, who pointed the stick at the door and mumbled something. They all pressed their ears to the door. Before, they could all hear nothing. After Teddy pocketed the piece of wood, they could hear the adults talking loudly. It wasn't even necessary for them to put their ears to the door.

"Think they have a right to know about now! Harry, we can't protect them any longer. Teddy and Victoire are going to find out soon, they both want to join the Ministry. James will be going into his third year, Albus and Rose their second, and Lily and Hugo will both be starting this year!"

"I know, Gin! But the point is, they don't know yet. As long as we can keep it quiet."

"Oh, but Harry, Ginny is right! Rose has been asking questions. Someone at school even asked Albus if he would sign an autograph and neither of them knew why."

"Mate, I'm going to have to agree with the women on this one. Ouch! Don't hit me, you banshee!" 

"Ronald, stop arguing with your sister and concentrate! Harry, the point is, tell your kids what you want, but soon we won't be able to hide the facts from our anymore. Do you really think it would change anything?"

"Yes, it would. To the kids now, I'm just Dad or Uncle Harry. I work at the Ministry. I take care of them when they're sick and play Quidditch with them. I already get enough attention from people in the wizarding community. I don't want the children knowing what this scar means!"

"Darling-" 

"No! I won't have it! When I was a kid, I was either a loony because nobody believed me that Voldemort was back, or I was a hero because once again I had defeated him. And I hated that! I have this _thing_ on my forehead to remind me of that every time I look into a mirror. I don't need those memories reflected in the faces of those kids."

There was a long silence , and the kids could hear someone softly crying inside the kitchen. And then, "You're absolutely right, Harry. We're sorry. We won't tell Rose and Hugo anything if you don't want us to. But remember what we said about Teddy and Victoire." There was another long pause.

"No. You don't have to be sorry. You guys are right. I'll tell the kids, all of them, soon. But first I need top figure out what to tell them. Mind you, I won't mention the Horcruxs, or the Pensieve. A lot of it they won't understand till they're older. Most of it is better left unsaid. But they do need to hear some of it. You're right about that."

"So what do you want to do?" 

"I'll tell Teddy and the kids first. Then I'll send owl to the rest of the family letting you guys know it's okay to discuss it with your children."

Someone laughed. "Owl? Mate, you better Floo me directly after you've done it." 

The conversation started to die off. The adults started to talk about things at the Ministry and household chatter, and the kids listlessly trooped upstairs. Sarah, even more confused than before, followed. They all went into a large room with blue walls, a fluffy green bed, and other objects scattered around it. All of the kids sat close together on the floor. Sarah noticed that all of them looked extremely pale and wore an expression of faint shock. Nobody had said anything, and Sarah felt uncomfortable and wanted to break the heavy silence, but she waited for someone else to do it. Finally, Albus lifted his bright green eyes to the rest of the family. 

"Dad is Harry Potter," he whispered hoarsely. "_The_ Harry Potter! How could he have not told us?" Victoire shook her head sadly.

"Don't you see? How awful it must have been, though? To grow up in such a scary time, and have You-Know-Who after you all the time, and everybody making him out to be mad for that. It's no wonder he never told us!" Hugo's bottom lip trembled, and his sister put an arm around him.

"Uncle Fred, he died in the Second War. D-d-do you think it's because he was a Weasley? Uncle Harry said that the Weasleys were practically family to him. Maybe You-Know-Who got 'im?" Everybody else shrugged, still too awed to say anything. Sarah curled a lock of hair around her finger, wondering if she should ask.

"Um," she began tentatively. All eyes looked in her general direction, but nobody was looking specifically at her. "Who is You-Know-Who?" she asked. Teddy sighed and got even farther away, if it was even possible. 

"Lord Voldemort. He was a Dark Wizard. The absolute worst. Bent on enslaving the Muggles, wiping out Muggle born wizards and Half-Bloods, and making Purebloods the supreme race. But it was said that he tried to kill a little boy, Harry Potter, on Halloween night, a really long time ago, because of some prophecy, but the curse he tried to kill the kid with rebounded onto him. And then, fourteen years later, he came back. He hatched his same plan, and again Harry Potter came back, and he was gone for good after that." Sarah listened, wide eyed, to teddy tell the story.

"Wow," she breathed, "Mr. Potter must be really powerful then!" All of the kids nodded vaguely in her direction. She wanted to question them more about their world, the wizarding world, which would soon be her world, too. Sarah could barely contain her excitement. She was a wizard! Or witch, more likely. And she would go to a school for witches and wizards, and learn to do magic, and she would have Lily and Albus and James and the entire Weasley clan there to help her!

Ginny called up the stairs to Sarah that Harry was ready to take her home, and Lily jumped, then volunteered to ride along. As they descended down the steps, Lily asked her most burning question. "Lily, how do you get in? To that school?" Lily looked at her in surprise. It seemed it was going to take awhile for this new information about her father to sink in with her. 

"Oh, that? Someone from the school will deliver you your acceptance letter around your eleventh birthday-"

"Eleventh birthday?" Sarah shrieked. Lily winced and her hands went up to her ears. Both girls laughed. "Sorry. It's just, I turn eleven in two days." Lily's brown eyes lit up and she grabbed both of Sarah's hands. The girls giggled and hugged each other. When they broke apart, Lily jumped up and down excitedly.

"Oh, Sarah! You have to tell me absolutely everything when you get it!" Sarah promised without hesitation and the girls raced out to the awaiting van. They chattered idly about unimportant things, mostly Lily asking questions about what America had been like and Sarah questioning Lily on the rest of her family.

"I have more cousins," Lily explained. "On Daddy's side. Karen and Juliette. But they're both really obnoxious." Harry turned around and frowned at her when they came to a red light.

"Lils, don't say that. They're your family. And do you even know what that word means?" he scolded. Lily ignored him.

"But Uncle Dudley and Aunt Lucy are all right. They're nice, and they give really good Christmas and birthday gifts." Sarah saw Harry make a sour face in the mirror. Sarah ventured what she knew was probably going to be an uncomfortable question.

"Mr. Potter, who did you stay with if your parents died when you were little.?" Harry's expression was blank, guarded. 

"I lived with my aunt and uncle. It wasn't the ideal place to live, but it was my home all the same. I appreciate it a little more than I did when I was a kid." Sarah nodded.

"And we would like it if you called us Ginny and Harry," Ginny put in warmly from the passenger seat. Sarah grinned. She couldn't believe she had made such wonderful new friends!

When they reached Sarah's house, the Potters walked her to her door. Johnathan answered, followed closely by her mother. They both enveloped Sarah in a spinec-rushing hug, thanking the Potters for bringing her home. 

"I'm sorry," Tami abenrathy said, smiling at the Potters, "I'm Tami Abernathy and this is my husband Jonathan. Thank you so much for bringing our girl home, and for letting her stay at your house for dinner."

Ginny returned her cheery grin and shook Tami's hand. "I'm Ginny Potter, and this is Harry. And really, it was no problem at all. Sarah is a very sweet girl, and we loved having her. Both of us, and all of our children, and Lily's cousins, hope to see her again very soon." The men talked amongst themselves, and Tami invited Ginny to stay for coffee.

"I would love to, but we still have six children left at the house with my brother nad his wife, and I want to take the kids off their hands so they can go home and rest," Ginny explained, "They ahd my sons all day, so I owe it to them," she laughed. The adutls all said goodbye, and Lily whispered to Sarah that she would send an owl. Then she followed her parenst out the door.

Sarah couldn't describe how ecstatic she felt. She only knew that she couldn't wait until her letter came!


	2. The Hogwarts Letter

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So if you count reviews, favorite author, and favorite story alerts altogether, this story got a pretty good response, and it's only been up for a day. This makes me very excited and got me working on the second chapter already, so enjoy everybody!

Much love to: Ashe Seraphim and LadyMarauderette

Disclaimer: The entire Harry Potter universe is the source of literary genius (Well, not really. But she's still pretty freaking amazing), J.K. Rowling!

Every day for the next week, Sarah met Lily, Albus, and James at the park to play. Each time, she came to them empty handed. The children all tried to hide their disappointment when Sarah would once again tell them that her letter hadn't come. The Potter kids would smile and shrug it off, replying that they sometimes took awhile to send the letters, but secretly, Lily was starting to wonder if they were wrong. What if they knew she wouldn't be good at magic, and decided to just not send her a letter? Maybe they didn't want her to be embarrassed when she showed up and they told her that she didn't have enough magic in her, that because her parents weren't magic, she couldn't possibly be any good? Sarah only made her fears known once, to Albus.

They had all met at the park, as usual, but this time they had brought Hugo, Rose, and three of their other cousins, Helen, Jane, and Christopher. It was four days after Sarah's birthday, and still her letter hadn't come. She sat moodily on the bench, staring at the ground and watching all of the tiny insects crawl over the blades of grass. Albus came and perched beside her on the edge of the bench, then gave her one of his charming grins that Harry used on Ginny the few times Sarah had ever seen them get into an argument. Sarah couldn't help but smile back sadly.

Albus frowned hard at her. "What's wrong with you, then?" he asked. Sarah shrugged, but he continued to ask her.

"All right, fine. Lily said I would get my letter on the day of my eleventh birthday, and that was days ago, Albus! It's a magical school. It shouldn't take this long for them to get a stupid letter out," she replied miserably. Albus laughed.

"Lily was wrong. They don't send it on your eleventh birthday. They send it sometime in the middle of the summer. She only said that because Dad got his letter on his birthday, at the end of July," Albus explained. Sarah bit her lip and looked very hard into Albus' eyes. Briefly, she caught a glimpse of the other kids watching them intently and whispering amongst themselves.

"Albus…what if they don't want me? I mean, I don't have any magic relatives. Maybe I only have a little bit of magic, or maybe they know that I'll be horrible at it, because I don't come from a magical family." Sarah couldn't have imagined the furious look on Albus' face. His green eyes flashed dangerously, and he quickly ran his hand through his messy black hair. He stood up in front of Sarah and scowled at her.

"Nobody thinks like that anymore. That's Death Eater talk right there! Trust me, nobody who matters at Hogwarts will judge you on being Muggle-born. It's only those cagey Slytherins, and everyone knows they're a bunch of Pureblood fanatics that shouldn't be given the time of day. Trust me, you're pretty and smart and funny and I know you will be good at magic, so don't even think anything like that again." Sarah stared at him, her mouth hanging open. Albus seemed to calm down, and smiled at her.

"Sorry," he said nervously, sitting back down. Sarah smiled widely at him. The day suddenly seemed much nicer, and she felt like a huge weight was being lifted off her chest.

Sarah kissed him quickly on the cheek, making him blush furiously. "Thank you, Albus! That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me!" she cried happily. He rubbed his cheek and mumbled something under his breath. "What did you say?"

Albus cleared his throat and managed to get his voice back. "I said, it's the truth," he said resolutely. Sarah silently thanked whatever higher power there was that she had been accepted by the Potters, as she looked at Albus. He was currently trying to beat James' face in after his older brother yelled, "Stop making kissy face with Sarah and come finish up the game!" The other children ignored this fight. The two brother were usually fighting over something or another, but everyone knew that they would soon forget what they were fighting about and be best friends again.

"What was that?" Sarah looked up to find Rose, Lily, Helen, and Jane standing over her. Helen and Jane looked very interested in her, but Lily and Rose were horrified. Sarah wondered why, until she thought about what she'd just done. Her cheeks burned and she avoided looking Lily directly in the eye.

"I don't know," she mumbled, "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I wasn't really thinking-"

"Well, obviously!" Lily interjected. "I mean, honestly, woman! My brother? Trust me, you can do much better." The other three girls nodded in agreement. Sarah shrugged and twirled a lock of hair around her finger. She hadn't really meant anything by the kiss. It had just sort of, _happened_. But Sarah was going to make sure it didn't happen again. After all, how could she lose Lily as a friend?

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the girls, the boys were having a discussion of their own.

"Merlin, Albus, you didn't have to punch me that hard! I am your brother, remember?" James whined. The younger Potter rolled his eyes at his brother's overdramatic, goofball ways. Christopher put his hand behind his neck and looked over at Sarah.

"If my advice means anything, I don't see what the big deal is. After all, she snogged you, right?" their cousin said. Christopher had always been the more level headed in the family. He was always being teased for being too "Percy-like" by his cousins and sisters. Even Uncle George had said it once or twice. Albus nodded slowly, seeing what Christopher was trying to do.

He and Christopher turned to James, grinning as one. "Yeah. That's right. I mean, it's not like I asked her to kiss me or anything. By the way, mind telling us about that very disturbing good bye you gave Lilac Thomas when we were getting off of the Hogwarts Express?"

James scowled, causing Christopher and Albus to laugh even harder. "Just goes to show what you idiots know about snogging."

"Snogging?" Christopher repeated in disbelief. "You looked like you were trying to eat her face!" Albus fought hard not to get sick just from the memory.

"You're just jealous 'cause she's the best looking girl in third year!" James shot at them, but the boys were already walking away. "Gits," he muttered, glaring at the boys as he followed them to the bench. Luckily (and not luckily for James, who had been looking forward to teasing Albus and Sarah), Sarah's parents had come by the park and picked her up for a dentist appointment.

"Ow, Mom, it hurts! I don't want to finish my steak," Sarah whimpered, clutching at her jaw. It turned out that she'd had to get a tooth pulled that day. Tami had intentionally not told her daughter, knowing that Sarah was already afraid enough of the dentist as it already was. As expected, Sarah came out of the office two hours later, sobbing dramatically about how much agony she was in. When they had gotten home, Jonathan gave her a few Tylenol. She instantly fell asleep and didn't wake up until dinner.

Tami sighed. "All right, dear. I'll go heat up some soup." Sarah nodded silently and handed her hardly touched plate to her mother. Jonathan turned to Sarah, his gleaming white smile contrasting with his dark skin.

"It's not the end of the world, sweetie. I promise." Sarah made a sour face, but couldn't help giggling at herself.

"So what did you do today?"

Sarah smiled, and then winced, remembering her missing tooth. "I went to the park and played with the Potters. They brought Rosie and Hugo. And I met Jane, Helen, and Christopher." Jonathan widened his eyes.

"How many Weasleys are there?" he asked in disbelief. Sarah screwed up her eyes and thought for a moment. "13," she said at last. Jonathan stared at her.

"13?"

"Yup. Ginny has 5 brothers," Sarah said. Her mother came back in and set a bowl of chowder in front of her. "Thanks, Mom. Anyways, she used to have 6. But he died when she was a teenager." Tami made a sympathetic face.

"Oh, the poor woman." Sarah nodded and began to eat her soup. As dinner progressed, they could hear someone ringing the doorbell. Jonathan wiped his hands on a napkin and went to get the door. When he came back in he looked a little strange.

"Tami, there's a man in a red robe here that wants to talk to us and Sarah," he said. Sarah and her mother exchanged a look and went to see who the visitor was. Jonathan led them to the living room. Standing nervously in the middle of the room was a short, round man with a pleasant face . He was indeed wearing a thick red robe, and carrying an envelope made of thick, yellowing paper. It was the envelope that made Sarah smile brightly.

"My letter," she shouted. The man looked at her in surprise, as did her parents.

"Why, erm , yes. Actually, Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy, this letter is exactly what I wanted to speak to you about. You see, my name is Professor Neville Longbottom. I'm a teacher at a school for very gifted students, and on behalf of the entire staff, I am very happy to say that Sarah has been accepted to our school," the man said.

Sarah jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "So the Potters weren't wrong! I did get accepted! I never thought my Hogwarts letter would get here." Professor Longbottom smiled and handed her the envelope. Jonathan and Tami looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but what sort of school did you say this was again?" she asked, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. Neville looked at her as though he had been expecting this question.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Professor Longbottom said simply. Both adults were silent for a moment. All Sarah could hear were the crickets chirping outside. Her mother and Jonathan were flabbergasted, and their mouths were opening and closing, as though they couldn't find the right words to say. Sarah thought they looked kind of like fish, and suppressed her laughter. Finally, Jonathan spoke.

"What sort of nonsense is this? Witchcraft!" he shouted, narrowing his eyes at the man. "Get out so my family and I can finish dinner in peace." He strode over to the door and pulled it open. The humidity that had been increasing over the past couple of hours swept through the room, and Sarah could smell the jasmine from her mother's garden. Professor just smiled widely at Jonathan, not looking in the least perturbed by his rudeness.

He pulled out one of the large sticks like Teddy had. Tami put both hands on her daughter's shoulders and moved her back, looking very alarmed. Jonathan eyed the stick and backed away. Professor Longbottom just smiled cheerfully.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. This is why I came to deliver the letter in person. Children who come from Muggle families usually have much more trouble accepting it than their parents. Although," he stopped looking from Sarah to Jonathan and Tami, "I see that it might be the exact opposite. Anyhow, I will just do a simple Summoning Charm. First years don't learn this one, but it's easy and doesn't make a mess, so it's ideal to use as proof for Muggle parents and children." Professor Longbottom scanned the room, quietly humming to himself. Sarah decided that she liked this funny man. Finally, the professor spotted a cork coaster on the coffee table and pointed his wand at it. "Accio coaster!" he yelled. To Sarah's amazement, the coaster flew fight into Professor Longbottom's outstretched hand.

Jonathan stared at him. "What was that? I don't believe it!" Instead of being offended, Sarah's teacher shook his head genially. He turned to Sarah.

"All right, I'll show you one that you will be learning this year." Sarah pulled her parents down next to her on the couch, watching Professor Longbottom eagerly. Jonathan mumbled something about, "Ridiculous," but Tami seemed just as captivated as Sarah was. Professor Longbottom pointed his wand at the couch, and shouted , "Wingardium Leviosa!" Sarah felt a sort of floating sensation in her middle, and realized that she was up in the air. Tami shrieked and pulled Sarah back down, and Jonathan gasped. Sarah frowned at her mother.

"Mommy it was fun! I didn't want to come down," she complained. Tami's sea green eyes contemplated her daughter before she broke into a shaky grin.

"I knew it," she whispered, "I always knew you were special. Those things you could do!" She burst into tears and hugged Sarah.

"I can't believe this," Jonathan whispered. "Sarah's a witch." He sank down onto the couch, visibly shaken. He passed his hand over his face, but Sarah barely noticed.

Professor Longbottom shook each of her parents' hands and gave them a cheerful grin. "I see this is a lot for you all to take in, so I will leave. I'll send a letter by owl next time, telling you where to meet me so that I can show you how to get Sarah's school supplies." He started out the door, then turned at the last moment. "I actually have one question for Sarah."

"Yes?" the little girl piped up happily.

"When you mentioned the Potters, did you mean the Potters down on Sycamore?" Sarah nodded.

"Yeah. I'm friends with them." Professor Longbottom chuckled.

"So that is why you weren't surprised by the letter. I take it Harry and Ginny don't know that their children told you before your letter came?" Sarah shook her head, looking stricken.

"Oh no, Professor. They don't! Lily would be in so much trouble, and Albus said they would send Teddy to Azkaban-" Sarah cried in panic. Professor Longbottom smiled.

"Of course. Consider this our secret." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. Professor Longbottom turned to Tami and Jonathan, who still looked at a loss for words. "You're quite lucky. If you could be friends with any wizarding family in the world, the Potters are by far the best choice. Went to school with both of them. And Ron and Hermione Weasley. They're about as nice people as you'll ever come across, and very brave and loyal. Why, some of the things those four did during the Second War! If it weren't for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, this world would be a much different, and much darker, place." Sarah leaned forward eagerly.

"How? What did he do?" Professor Longbottom beamed.

"Why, I thought his children would tell you. But then again, I guess they wouldn't know. Actually, I'm pretty certain that none of the kids know…."

"But you could tell me? I mean, you went to school with them. You're friends with the Potters and Weasleys," Sarah pleaded. She widened her eyes at her teacher and gave him the most wide-eyed, innocent look she could muster up. But Professor Longbottom chuckled and shook his head.

"Yes I am friends with them. And I have been through a lot with them. We all fought in the war together, and even before then, when we went to school, they stuck up for me when nobody else did. But as to their heroic deeds, that is what the Hogwarts library is for. If you are so interested, perhaps it would be better to wait until then." Sarah sighed in disappointment and kicked at the white carpeting. Tami scolded her for being rude to the professor, and she and Jonathan led him to the door.

Professor Longbottom made a dismissive gesture at the door. "Oh no. I'll just Apparate, since know you all know about the wizarding world now. It's faster and easier." Bidding them all farewell, Professor Longbottom disappeared with a loud _crack_! The Abernathys stared at the spot where Professor Longbottom had been standing on seconds before with amazement. Jonathan slowly approached the spot, and waved his hand through where Professor Longbottom had disappeared from.

Sarah clapped her hands gleefully. "Rad! I can't believe I get to learn to do that! Oh I have to go tell Lily!" Jonathan and Tami sank down on the couch, still in shock. Sarah yelled that she was going to run to the Potter's house before it got completely dark to tell her friends. She grabbed a pink sweater and slipped on her sneakers and pulled the door open. Standing there, her hand raised to knock on the door, stood Lily. Behind her were Albus, James, Rose and Hugo, all looking at Sarah in anticipation. Sarah grinned and slowly held up the letter. Their reaction was even better than Sarah had expected.

Lily screamed wordlessly and grabbed at the letter. James and Rose hugged her so hard that Sarah saw nothing but black spots and red hair. Hugo and Albus congratulated her. "And you thought you didn't have enough magic," Albus said smugly. Sarah knew he was only joking and grinned at him, a wide, happy smile that Albus gladly returned. Sarah turned to Lily with James' arm still slung over her shoulders. "Lily, read it out loud!" Sarah cried. Lily stared at her with disbelief.

"You haven't read it yet?" Sarah shook her head. "Well then you read it out loud to us, stupid! It's your letter, not mine." Both girls giggled. Sarah tore open the seal and took a deep breath, all eyes on her, when Sarah felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Harry smiling down at her.

"Congratulations, Sarah. Earnest Splotter at the Ministry told me that letters were being sent to this area today, so when Lily got her's, she demanded we drive over here so she could see your letter. But why don't we go inside so we aren't hanging about letting all of the cool air out of the house?" Sarah nodded enthusiastically, and after giving Ginny a hug, she went inside. Jonathan and Tami were talking quietly on the couch. Jonathan was still slightly skeptical, but it was only to be expected. Jonathan was a very logical person, and if he couldn't see or touch something, he refused to acknowledge it's existence. Her mother's face, on the other hand, was beautifully lit with excitement. The blood was rushing to her cheeks, making her look even more stunning than usual.

Sarah had always been proud of her mother. Tami had always been lovely at "5'8, with beautiful sea green eyes the same as Sarah's, and thick blonde hair. She had modeled when she was younger, and ended up making enough money to attend UCLA, where she met Sarah's father, an engineer. She had planned to go back to modeling after getting a degree in marketing to get a real job if modeling didn't work out, but instead chose to marry Sarah's father and become a stay-at-home wife and mother. Sarah's friends had sometimes asked her if she ever felt bad that her mother gave up her career for Sarah, but she told them no. She knew that her mother didn't regret her decision not to pursue her modeling career, and that she got more joy out of being a mother and wife than she could ever get out of her "silly career."

Sarah knew that she was pretty, but never as beautiful as her mother, which Sarah was just fine with. She liked having her father's curly brown hair and Roman nose. But Sarah had never considered herself very talented at anything. Now Sarah knew that she had been wrong. She was special, and talented. She was a witch! Sarah watched Ginny and Harry greet Tami and Jonathan.

"You're very lucky," Harry told Tami, "We all are. Hogwarts is one of the finest wizarding academies in the world. I know Sarah will make a wonderful contribution to the school. And the kids are so excited to finally all be going together." Tami smiled.

"Thank you. I actually made desert, enough for everyone I'm sure, so why don't we all have some of that while Sarah, Lily, and Hugo read their acceptance letters out loud. I want to hear everybody's!" she cried gleefully. Ginny quickly volunteered to help her bring out paper plates and plastic forks while Tami got the cake she had prepared. The three soon-to-be first years beamed at each other, already anticipating their coming adventures at the magical school.

****

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Antigone Flanders

Former Head of Magical Law Enforcement and 20 year member of the Wizengamot

Dear Miss. Abernathy,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term beings on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.

Your's sincerely,

Hestia Jones

**Hestia Jones**

Deputy Headmistress

All of the kids clapped and the adults laughed. Sarah sat down and shoved Lily forward to read her's. She and Hugo had the same letter, but Sarah had an extra letter enclosed, giving her parents a number to call where they could get Sarah registered for school since they didn't have an owl, and giving her Professor Longbottom's number. "Lily ignored James' protests of, "You read us your letter five times already!" and began her's. Lily and Hugo got the same reaction from everyone, with less enthusiastic clapping from the other children. Tami and Jonathan, who had finally started to come around and was beginning to enjoy himself, both looked so proud and ecstatic.

Sarah begged the other children to tell her about Hogwarts. Finally, Albus gave in and told her. "Well, there are four houses. You get sorted into one of the houses, and that's where you stay for the next seven years. I'm in Gryffindor, but that's not surprising really. All of the Weasleys and Potters have been in Gryffindor. Then there's Ravenclaw, for the really smart kids, Slytherin-"

"And that's the bad one, right? That hate kids like me?" Harry sent Albus a sharp look and Albus shrugged and grinned.

"Well, I didn't really mean it. I mean, they are a bunch of pureblood fanatics, and they're still a bunch of snobs, but they've gotten better. Or at least that's what other kids have said that their parents have told them."

Sarah hesitated. "So, what is a pureblood?" Harry's face grew dark and he snorted derisively.

"Someone with only wizarding blood in them. It's not a big deal. Hermione Weasley was one of the brightest witches to enter Hogwarts, and she had absolutely no wizard blood whatsoever. A lot of the really intelligent witches and wizards come from Muggle families." This made Sarah feel much better, although she still didn't understand why the Slytherins wouldn't like her just because her parents weren't magical. It seemed like a stupid reason to her, especially after what Harry had just said, but she let the matter go.

"So what's the fourth house?" The kids laughed.

"Those are the Hufflepuffs. If you aren't brave enough to be in Gryffindor, smart enough to be in Ravenclaw, or evil enough to be in Slytherin, then Hufflepuff takes the leftovers." Sarah was suddenly stricken with the thought that she might not be wanted by the good houses, and therefore put into Hufflepuff.

Sarah wailed and told her fears to the other kids. "Hufflepuff is just as good as the other houses. I've known a few very good Hufflepuffs," Ginny said. Harry gave her a questioning look.

"Like who?" Ginny squinted and tried to think. "Erm, uh, well, there was…Justin! And Zacharias." Harry laughed.

"All right. Justin and Ernie were okay after second year. But you dumped Zacharias, remember? Said he was too whiny when Hufflepuff lost at Quidditch." Ginny glared sourly at him and everyone else laughed.

Rose smiled and put a hand on Sarah's arm. "It's all right, Sarah. You're a brain, so maybe the Sorting Hat will put you in Ravenclaw with me! Everybody else is in Gryffindor, so it'd be nice to see a familiar face around more often." Sarah beamed. Now that she thought about it, even though her friends would be in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw appealed to her a lot more. Lily pouted.

"But Sarah is my best friend! I want her to be in Gryffindor with me!"

The Potters and Weasleys left the house two hours later, their stomach full of chocolate cake and warm milk, hot coffee for the adults. They invited the Abernathys to join their annual school shopping the next week, so they could show Sarah's parents how to get to the shops. Sarah had no clue why she would need dragon hide gloves, or a pointed black hat. There was one thing on the list that caught her attention very quickly.

"Mommy! A pet! It says I can bring a toad, owl or cat. Oh, can I please, please, please, please get a little kitty! I don't need an owl. I can always borrow one of the school ones." Tami sighed and tried to reason with her again.

"But Sarah, darling, an owl is much more practical. This way you don't need to use the school owls and you can use your owl to write letters to your friends over the summer." Sarah made a face.

"Mom, nobody uses owls anymore. Besides, you can buy these things. They're like walkie talkies, except a little hologram of the person your talking to appears out of it, so it's like you can talk to them in person. And you can get a signal no matter how far away from the other person you are," Sarah stated, as if this was completely obvious, "All of the kids at school have them." Tami rolled her eyes and pointedly ignored Sarah by pretending to start on the dishes in the sink.

Sarah stuck her tongue out at her mother's back and stomped up the stairs to her room.


	3. Shopping and Akward Silences

"Sarah wake up. We're going to get your school things today." Sarah's eyes flew open. It was apparent that she had barely slept all night in anticipation of school shopping. Tami told Sarah to get ready to go shopping while she made breakfast. Sarah obeyed. She took a quick shower, brushed her hair and teeth , and flossed. The most difficult part of getting ready was choosing what to wear.

She threw open her closet doors and surveyed the contents carefully, wondering what to wear when you go shopping with wizards. When Tami went upstairs to call her to breakfast, she found Sarah's floor covered in clothes and Sarah herself still in pajamas.

"I don't know what to wear," Sarah wailed. Jonathan briefly popped his head into the room to find out what was going on, but when told what the problem was, he shook his head and went to start on his breakfast. After twenty minutes of additional decision making, Tami finally forced Sarah into a dark green pleated dress and a navy blue cardigan, and then tied her hair partly back and fasted it with a gold clip. Sarah complained the entire time that she would be the only one wearing a dress until she saw herself in the mirror. She happily proclaimed that she liked the choice of outfit and followed Tami down to breakfast.

It was a very quick affair. Sarah took up most of the conversation as she repeated her school list and continued to beg her mother for a cat.

Tami set down her fork. "Sarah, we talked about this. A cat is a very big responsibility, especially while you're at school. Ginny told me that if you got an owl you could keep it in the Owlery and they would give it food and water. It's a very sensible animal to have in such a case as this." Sarah glared at her mother.

"Since when have you ever cared about being sensible?" she grumbled. She was so busy stabbing at her breakfast forlornly that she did not notice the conspiratorial wink Tami sent to Jonathan, who smiled and nodded. He finished his breakfast before the ladies and kissed them each on the top of the head and said goodbye. Ginny walked in as Jonathan walked out. He said a friendly hello to her and got into his car to go to work.

"Hi, Ginny!" cried Sarah, rushing to hug the woman. Ginny laughed and hugged the girl back, then greeted her mother.

"Are we all set for Diagon Alley?" Sarah nodded eagerly.

"I didn't sleep at all last night because I was so excited!" Sarah told her. Lily rushed in, long red hair fanning out behind her, and grabbed Sarah's arm.

She gave her friend a huge grin. "Neither did I, or Hugo. I can't wait for you to see it! Diagon Alley is so cool! We get our wands finally!" Sarah felt her excitement mount at the thought of getting her very own wand like Teddy and Professor Longbottom had. Sarah told Lily about wanting a cat. Lily sighed.

"I just get a stupid owl. My parents think exactly like your's. They said an owl was more useful-"

"Which it is," cut in Ginny. Tami agreed and each girl gave her mother a very sour look. The women hustled the kids out the door and Tami locked up behind them. When they reached the driveway, though, Sarah's mouth fell open. Sitting in the driveway was a sleek, black limo. Tami and Sarah, neither of whom had been in anything more expensive than a pickup truck, both gasped at the same time. Ginny laughed and Lily gave them a confused look.

"What?" Sarah pointed mutely at the car, unable to find the words.

Tami, on the other hand, recovered enough to ask, "Why are we taking a-"

"LIMO!" Sarah squeaked shrilly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"We always take a limo to go shopping for school supplies. We always take so many people. Plus we get more privacy and its hard to explain to Muggles how you can fit over 20 people in a Honda." Ginny nodded in agreement with her daughter's explanation. Tami was hesitant, but slid in after only a single prompt from Ginny. Sarah practically dived into the car. Sarah grinned when she saw the entire Weasley and Potter clan, plus Teddy, sitting in the limo.

Sarah leaned over to Lily. "Did you do something to the car to make it really big on the inside?" Lily shrugged sheepishly and looked at one of her uncles. He was a grinning red haired man holding the hand of a very pretty black woman sitting next to him.

"Well you see, even with the ample amount of space this Muggle contraption had, it still wouldn't sit thirty-one people. So, I just gave it some help to make everyone more comfortable.," he said. Ginny laughed.

"All right, you two. Let me introduce you to everyone." Sarah couldn't believe how many people there were.

Of course Sarah and Tami knew the Potters, and Tami was introduced to Ron and Hermione and their kids. Then she introduced Fleur, a stunningly beautiful woman with silvery blonde hair and icy blue eyes, and her husband, Bill, who was red haired like his brothers and had a scar going down his face. Tami's eyes paused involuntarily on Bill's face, and the man smiled.

"Got attacked by a werewolf during the Battle at the Tower," he explained. Fleur nodded vehemently and touched his cheek.

"We all thought zat 'ee would be a werewolf. Luckily, 'ee escaped wiz onlee a 'orrible appetite for raw meats," she said seriously. The blonde baby in her lap let out a cry and she shushed him gently. Sitting next to Victoire was a younger girl with curly, strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes introduced as Dominique.

Next was the grinning man, George, and his wife, Angelina. Their children all had the same bone structure as George, strong enough so that you know they were his kids, but had caramel skin, and black hair and brown eyes. A man with numerous cuts and bruises covering his arms and face was introduced as Charlie. Underneath the scarring he was still very handsome. He sat across from his wife, Rachel, who was deep in conversation with a woman that was later introduced as Audrey. Sarah waved to Helen, Jane and Christopher, and cooed over their little sister, Sandra, who was shouting, "Baby!" and struggling out of her father's lap to try to get to Louis, Fleur's baby. A haughty-looking man with curly red hair and horn rimmed glasses was Percy, Rachel's husband. Their children introduced themselves.

In the car ride, Sarah learned many interesting things about the Weasleys. She learned that almost everyone in the car was in or had been in the Gryffindor house. The only exceptions were Rachel and Audrey, who had not gone to Hogwarts, and Rose, Fleur, Molly, Helen and Jane, who were all in Ravenclaw. She learned that Charlie used to tame dragons, and that Ginny and Angelina were both professional Quidditch players.

They stopped outside a bar called the Leaky Cauldron, although Tami said that she couldn't see a thing. They all trooped inside and were met with greetings from almost everyone in the pub. Apparently, the Potters and Weasleys came to Diagon Alley a lot and were very popular with the people there. Everyone in the pub even came to shake Harry's hand, much to his utter embarrassment. He led the way hurriedly through a back door and out of the pub. Everyone was crowded into a very tiny alley as the adults struggled to pull out their wands.

"Oy, Percy! Stop trying to crush my backside and go back through the door! There's no room in here!" George yelled. Percy retorted that he wanted nothing to do with George's backside. Harry shouted for everyone to shut up and tapped the brick wall with his wand a few times. Sarah watched, entranced, as the brick stared to fold in on itself and revel a clean, cobblestone street. There were many people in brightly colored robes and pointed hat hurrying up and down the street. Children about her own age ran between the wave of people, some in jeans and t shirts, and others in the standard robes that everyone here seemed to favor. Sarah felt out of place with her tidy dress and sweater and polished white shoes, but she tried to brush aside the feeling.

Their first stop was Gringotts. Sarah thought it was beautiful. A large white structure that reminded Sarah of castles that she had seen in fairy tale books. The goblins, ugly little things with long fingers and unpleasant, greedy smiles, frightened Sarah a little, and she was glad when her mother finished trading in her regular money for wizard money and they could finally leave. The next stop was the wand shop. Sarah, Hugo, Lily, and Molly, who would also be starting Hogwarts that year, shared an excited glance at each other before they went in. Angelina and Fleur volunteered to watch the first years while everyone else did their shopping. Tami pocketed a few of the strange coins and pulled Ginny away, citing that they needed to accomplish some secret business. Sarah shrugged and put the rest of the money in a small velvet pouch with a gold string that she could tie around her wrist.

In the wand shop they met Mr. Ollivander. He was a little old man with eerie silver eyes and white hair. While he talked, he flicked his wand at a four tape measures, each of which started measuring a child. Ollivander first turned to the Weasleys.

"Ah, more of you, are there? Yes I remember your cousins and brothers and sisters and parents, all of whom came here for their wands," he said softly. "And I suppose you hope to be in Gryffindor like the rest of them?" Both children nodded eagerly.

"Oh, yes sir," Hugo cried. "Gryffindor is the best." Ollivander frowned.

"Each house has their own strengths and weaknesses, even Gryffindor. Do not be so quick to judge. Although, knowing your family history, I suppose you will get your wish." Molly and Hugo beamed at the confirmation from Ollivander. He got Molly's wand first. She tried four different wands before finally getting, "7 ¾ inches, cherry wood, core of ground unicorn horn. Very fine for Charms." Hugo got his wand on the first try. "8 inches, oak, dragon heartstring. That's a sturdy wand there. Particularly useful in Defense."

Lily was next. He probed her with his strange eyes before giving her a very unsettling smile. "Yes," he whispered softly, "Another Potter." Lily shrugged embarrassedly and dropped her eyes. "I remember when your father came in here, accompanied by Hagrid. His wand choice was very surprising. Very surprising, indeed."

"Why was it surprising?" she questioned. Ollivander laughed, a sound even scarier than his smile. Lily shrank back. "Ask your father where he got that scar on his forehead." Lily and Sarah looked at each other worriedly. Luckily, Ollivander began to search for Lily's wand. With the first one, she almost blew up one of the shelves. On the eleventh wand, water shot from it and squirted Ollivander in the face. Sarah laughed and received a dirty look from the old man which silenced her immediately. On the thirty-fifth wand, a bouquet of a dozen red roses shot out of the tip.

Mr. Ollivander smiled widely. "Yes, very good. 7 inches, oak, mandrake root. That is a nice wand. The mandrake root will help you in any career involving Healing or Herbology." Lily grinned happily and pocketed her wand. It was finally Sarah's turn. "Muggle-born?" he asked. Sarah nodded timidly. "I see. And which house do you want to be in?" he asked.

Sarah straightened up proudly. "I really want to be in Ravenclaw." Sarah didn't say out loud, but since she had gotten her letter, she thought that Slytherin didn't sound too bad. Although, she knew that they would never take her because she wasn't a Pureblood. Mr. Ollivander gave her a knowing smile.

"You mean you don't want to be in Gryffindor with your friends?" Sarah hesitated.

"Well, Gryffindor would be great, too. But I would much prefer Ravenclaw." Mr. Ollivander chuckled. "And I would guess that Hufflepuff is out of the question?" Sarah adopted a stricken expression and shook her head.

"I don't want to be considered leftovers," she said dryly. Ollivander's eyes sparkled and he lowered his voice.

"And Slytherin?" Sarah gulped. Ollivander eagerly watched her struggle to think of something to say. Lily was watching her curiously, probably wondering why it was taking her so long to answer such a simple question.

Sarah answered back coolly, "And why on earth would I want to be in Slytherin?" she asked, placing disgust on _Slytherin_. "Besides, I'm Muggle-born, remember?" she told him. Ollivander's eyes got even brighter.

"Don't place too much importance on blood. A young man came in here many years ago, orphaned by his Muggle father and a mother who was such a weak witch she could have been a Muggle herself. He was placed into Slytherin and became one of the most powerful wizards the world has seen yet." Instead of feeling comforted by this, Sarah felt a chill go up her spine. She had no sooner wished that Ollivander would stop looking at her and get her wand than he actually did.

Lily mouthed, "What was that about?" Sarah shrugged, utterly bewildered. Sarah only had to try eight wands. When she waved the last one, a bright light soared out of the end, circled Lily's head, and shot back into her wand tip. Sarah smiled as she felt the warmth of the wand, almost as if it were a _part _of her arm. Ollivander gave her the weird, glittery-eyed look again.

"Well. 7 inches, holly, basilisk heart. Very interesting combination." Sarah felt there was more to it than that, but Ollivander scared her, and she quickly paid the man (with help from Fleur) and ran out of the shop without even saying good bye. Lily was right behind her. Both girls glanced back at the shop. Lily gave her a solemn look. "I didn't like him." Sarah agreed fully.

They started walking toward Flourish and Blotts, a store for books, parchment and writing utensils. "Why did he ask you that dumb question about wanting to be in Slytherin?" Sarah laughed and shrugged.

"No idea," she replied, then added, "As if I would want to be in Slytherin." Lily laughed along with her and gave a sigh of relief.

"Yeah. For a second in the store, I thought you were actually going to say you wanted to be a Slytherin." Sarah laughed nervously. In the bookstore they saw James and his friends, and Victoire and Teddy with a couple of Victoire's friends. They waved briefly to them and _ahh_ed over the brightly colored quills. Sarah bought a royal blue quill and an emerald green quill. She wanted to buy one quill that wrote all of your essays for you, but it was too expensive, and Lily said that the teachers confiscated them. Sarah also didn't trust what sort of quality essays it would produce and decided to stick with her own. She bought a few rolls of parchment, and also her school books. Then she bought Hogwarts: A History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord and Powerful Witches and Wizards Throughout History.

Lily and Sarah purchased all of their stuff before Hugo and Molly did, so they once again had to wait outside for the others. Rose was walking by, and left her friends to join Lily and Sarah. Lily filled in Rose on the incident at Ollivander's, and both girls showed Rose their wands. Rose nodded at Sarah's.

"He was right. That is an odd combination."

"Why?" Sarah asked. Rose took the wand gently and inspected it.

"Well, holly is a bit fragile. It's very light, making it very ideal for wand work. But the basilisk is a dark animal, and that's a powerful core. Not one that you see too often." Sarah took her wand back delicately. "It's not that unusual. It's just a strong core for such a light wand." Lily clapped a hand on Rose's shoulder.

"I'm glad you read." Rose laughed. She held out a bag of candy called Chocolate Frogs and invited them to take a few. They stood there chatting and occasionally talking to some people that Rose knew from school. One particular boy stood out for Sarah. He was undoubtedly very good looking. He had a pale, pointed face, gray eyes, and white blonde hair.

"Hello, Scorpius," Rose called. The boy raised his eyebrows and headed in their direction. Sarah couldn't call his expression unfriendly. More like disinterested, she decided finally. He had a surprisingly deep voice and the air of someone who was filthy rich and knew it.

Scorpius inclined his head lightly in Rose's direction. "Hello, Rose. How were your holidays?"

Rose smiled warmly at him. "Just fine. They weren't very exciting. Just spent time catching up on homework and hanging out with my family. Deidre came to stay with us for a few days." Draco looked mildly more interested in the conversation.

"Finnigan?" Rose nodded. "She's a bit of an airhead, I think. But she seems nice enough at school." This was not said pompously, so it didn't sound offensive, more like he was stating a fact. Rose just shrugged.

"What did you do over the summer?" she asked him. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"We went to France. It was dull," he replied. Sarah gaped at him.

"How could France be boring?" she asked incredulously.

Scorpius gave Sarah a very dark look that made her flinch. "We were visiting my grandparents. It wasn't the ideal summer break." The way he said this made it very clear that the topic of France was off limits and Rose shifted nervously. Sarah thought that maybe she had offended him and that he would probably leave, but he surprised her. Instead he studied her at length and said, "You're Muggle born." Sarah nodded. He smirked. "And you probably want Gryffindor?"

Sarah saw the mocking expression on his face and frowned. She really didn't like this kid. She shook her head and indignantly told him, "Actually, I'm hoping for Ravenclaw. And your house is?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Slytherin." This time Sarah smirked. "I don't know why it wasn't obvious from the beginning," she said sarcastically. Once again he surprised her. Instead of stalking off without another word, he gave her a half smile and laughed.

"Scorpius!" All four kids turned to see a man with thinning blonde hair that looked exactly like Scorpius walking towards them. At the same time, half of the Weasleys and Albus had caught up to them. Scorpius scowled at his father who was glaring angrily at the approaching party. The Weasleys wore the same look of distrust.

The silence that followed was one of the most awkward that Sarah had ever experienced. The sounds of Diagon Alley seemed louder than ever. Finally, Hermione stepped forward and put a hand on Rose's shoulder.

She pushed back her curly brown hair and smiled hesitantly at the man. "Hello…Draco," she said. George Weasley was glaring mutinously at Draco. The man saw this and looked around nervously, moving his son back slightly. Scorpius protested and told his father to stop embarrassing him, but Draco paid no attention to this. "Hello Granger," he replied, "Or I guess it wouldn't be Granger anymore, would it?" he added, looking briefly at Rose.

Hermione shook her head. "No. I'm officially a Weasley. It'll be fifteen years in a few months." Draco nodded and shifted his feet. Draco's eyes scanned the crowd and stopped on Albus. The second he saw the boy, his eyes widened and he looked around.

"He and Ron are at the Quidditch shop," Hermione said quietly. Relief showed itself briefly on Draco's face, and he became expressionless once again.

"Yes, well," he said awkwardly. "How is Potter doing these days? Heard he made head of the Auror department." The last part was said with some bitterness. Bill shepherded everyone away, bribing the rest of the children with ice cream and giving the adults a knowing look. Before they left, George glared at Draco.

"Remember, she's family now. Mess with her, ferret, and you're done." Draco paled even more and sent George a look that could kill. This apparently satisfied George and he followed the rest of his family to Floresques Ice Cream Parlor.

Hermione sent George's retreating back a sharp look. "Yeah, he's doing good," she replied softly, "He's sending his last child off to Hogwarts this year." She indicated Lily and Draco smiled.

"So, Ginny is well, I suppose?" Hermione nodded.

"Yeah. She'll be aging out of the league next year, so she's a bit high-strung these days." Draco nodded understandingly. Hermione and Draco took the opportunity to introduce their kids.

"So is she your's, too?" he asked, pointing to Sarah. Hermione shook her head.

"No. Sarah is a friend of the children. She lives a few blocks away from us.. And then Harry's oldest, James, is running around here somewhere, and my younger one, Hugo, is off with his aunts and uncles." Draco nodded. There was another long pause, and Draco cleared his throat.

"Well, we must be off. Astoria expects us home for dinner. It was excellent seeing you again and meeting the children," he said, steering Scorpius away. The boy wriggled away from his father and walked over to Albus.

"So I'll see you on the train, then?" he asked. Albus smiled softly and nodded. "Yeah. See you, mate." Scorpius nodded to the rest of them, his eyes resting on Sarah slightly longer, then followed his father. Hermione shivered and told the kids that they needed to meet everyone else at the ice cream parlor so they could all go home. She looked worried.

She took Rose's hand. "Rose, darling, was Scorpius nice?" Rose shrugged.

"He's a bit of a snob most of the time, but he's really all right once you talk to him a little." Sarah avoided contradicting her and kept quiet, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of her cardigan. Lily grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Who was that?" Sarah asked. Lily looked a little nervous. "Scorpius Malfoy." Sarah squinted at her friend.

"What's wrong with him? Besides the fact he's a jerk." Lily bit her lip. Her long red hair gleamed in the sunlight, reflecting bits of gold in the wavy mass. She seemed unsure of what to say.

"Well, the Malfoys were originally Blacks. They were really Dark Wizards. They used to be really influential, but then Voldemort was defeated. Everybody knew that they were close to Voldemort, so now they're still unbelievably rich, but nobody in the wizarding world will have anything to do with them anymore. Not even the Slytherins will talk to him, and that's his own house," she explained.

This time Sarah felt slightly bad for judging Scorpius. She thought that it was terrible that people should judge him just because of his last name or stuff his family had done before he was born. It was like if someone judged her for not coming from a wizarding family. She remembered his haughty attitude towards her, but the quiet civility with which he spoke to Rose and Albus. She decided that maybe he just wasn't nice to people he didn't know very well because he was so used to people hating him on sight, and made a note to herself to be nicer to Scorpius the next time she saw him. Fortunately, she got a bit of a chance. Sarah and the rest of the kids sat at a table away from the adults in the ice cream parlor. Sarah had gotten a quadruple scoop cone and was savoring the unusual flavors she had gotten when she saw Scorpius walk by the parlor with his father. She tapped lightly on the glass. Mr. Malfoy didn't notice, but Scorpius turned her way. Sarah waved timidly at him through the glass. He returned the gesture, and Sarah could have sworn she even saw him smile.

--

"Mommy, he's beautiful!" Ginny, Harry, Ron and Tami met up in the ice cream parlor, Tami concealing two very large surprises from the pet shop. One was a medium sized cage. Tami set it down on the floor and took the sheet off of it. Inside the cage was a tiny brown screech owl, no bigger than her fist. Sarah hadn't wanted an owl at first, but when she held the fluffy little animal in her hands and looked into it's big yellow eyes, she squealed with joy and hurriedly named her Rowena, after the founder of Ravenclaw. Sarah spent the next twenty minutes showing everyone the little bird. Lily cooed at the sight of the animal and refused to pass it to Dominique for at least ten minutes. Sarah hadn't expected anything else, so absorbed was she in her new little Rowena, that she didn't notice her mother step forward hesitantly.

Sarah looked curiously at the box in Tami's hands. "Is that Rowena's food and stuff?" she asked her mother. Tami smiled and handed the box to Sarah. She could feel something moving around inside. Sarah was almost afraid to open it, until she saw a fuzzy white paw poke through one of the holes in the box. Sarah screamed loudly and hurriedly opened the box, pulling out a fuzzy little kitten only a little bigger than her owl. The kitten had a black patch over it's left eye and on the tip of it's tail. It meowed, sounding more like a squeak, and cuddled against Sarah's chest. Sarah lovingly stroked the kitten, then looked worriedly at her mother.

"Mom, please don't make me choose," she pleaded, "I love them both so much. It's not fair!" she cried. Tami shushed her gently. She smiled and looked at Rowena, who had fallen asleep on Sandra's shoulder. The little girl was patting Rowena softly on the head and repeatedly whispering, "Nice birdie." Tami hugged Sarah and laughed.

"Of course I won't make you choose. They are both your's to keep. You need an owl. There is no getting around that. If anything goes wrong and you need to get a hold of us or we need to get a hold of you, an owl will be useful. But I know you really wanted a kitten and when I saw him sitting there in the window, he was just too cute not to take." Sarah was overjoyed and passed around the kitten, who fell asleep quickly and awoke with a squeak each time it was passed to a different child. Meanwhile, Sarah abandoned the kitten. Harry had called her over.

Sarah saw that he looked very worried. He was whispering with Hermione and Ron, and she heard the word, "Malfoy," when she got close enough. Harry put a hand on her shoulder when she got close enough and looked her directly in the eye. "Sarah," he began seriously, "When you were talking to Scorpius today, he didn't say anything to you, did he? In a bad way?" Sarah looked at him quizzically.

"What do you mean?" Harry gave his friend and brother-in-law a nervous glance and Hermione stepped forward. "Did he call you anything that you might have not understood?" Sarah didn't understand why they would ask such a question, but she thought hard about it anyways.

At length she answered, "No. I didn't like him because he was kind of rude," Sarah said, leaving out how Scorpius had looked when she said she was Muggle-born, "but then Lily told me about how nobody likes him because he's a Malfoy." At this, Ron looked slightly relieved, but Hermione gave a concerned frown.

"That's awful," she said. Ron snorted, but silenced when he saw the look Hermione fixed him with. Sarah nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I think so, too. You know, Hermione, I think that he just acts mean because he's so used to everybody not liking him before they even get to know him. Even Rose and Albus say that he's nice when you get to know him." Hermione sighed and glanced at her daughter.

"Yes, they've told us that, too." Hermione looked as though there were something else she wanted to add, but instead told Sarah to go finish her ice cream. In a hushed voice Lily asked what the conversation had been about. Albus meandered over to listen and Sarah told them both what happened. Albus frowned.

"Yeah. Nobody in our family likes him very much. Apparently Gramps had been part of the Black family, but then he was disowned for marrying Gran because she was a poor witch. And because he's crazy about Muggles. In fact, he'll be thrilled when he meets you." Sarah smiled and pushed back her brown hair. She quietly accepted the sleeping Rowena from Sandra. The toddler put Rowena in Sarah's hand and tapped her on the arm.

Sarah bent down to be on level with Sandra. Sandra widened her blue eyes and put a finger to her lips, "Hush, hush. Baby birdie is sleep." She ran off and Sarah grinned at Rowena. "So is that why they don't like the Malfoys?" she asked Albus. He shook his head, making his messy black hair stand almost on end.

"No. Because Dad went to school with him. He said Draco Malfoy was a git. And he said Lucius Malfoy was an idiot, too. Always strutting around like he owned everything." Sarah could only slightly understand why the Potters and Weasleys wouldn't want their children hanging out with Scorpius. She got the feeling the Malfoys had a worse track record than anybody was letting on, as she didn't think the Potters and Weasleys were the kind of people who held grudges against people from high school just because they were snobs. The kids wanted to talk more, but from the suspicious looks the adults kept giving them, they agreed it would be best to join the others again.

After everyone finished their ice cream, they continued shopping. Tami took Sarah to get her robes. The list had said to bring three, but Tami said that she had better get an extra one just in case any of the washing machines broke down. Sarah sighed and assured her it wouldn't happen, but Tami went ahead and told Madame Malkin to make another one anyways. She also made Sarah get an extra black hat. Other students came and went in the shop, some getting robes let down, or getting new ones altogether. Sarah listened most eagerly to the older students that would come in.

"Oh that homework Binns gave us over break was awful! I thought that chapter about the Giant Wars would never end," one girl came into the shop saying loudly. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was obviously an older student. Sarah wondered if she would have this same Binns person. She hoped not. And it would seem unlikely, since she was only a first year and this girl was older than her.

"Well, that's what you get for taking NEWTs History of Magic. What on earth could possess your mother to do that to you?" asked her pretty Asian friend. The other girl tugged gently at her hair.

"I don't know!" she wailed, "I want to drop it so badly but Mum refuses. She said it'll be easier for me to get a good position in the Ministry after I graduate if I take as many NEWT level courses as possible." The Asian girl clucked sympathetically.

"Bad luck. That's what happens when you come from a long line of overachieving Ravenclaws," she said seriously. The blonde girl sighed miserably at her reflection.

Sarah realized she was staring and instantly shifted her gaze back to her own mirror. Madam Malkin came back and started to stitch the places that she had pinned on the robe. Sarah tentatively set her hat on her head and stared at her reflection. Excitement made her already pale cheeks unusually rosy and a brilliant smile lit up her green eyes. She took in the robe, and the pointed hat sitting on her curly brown hair, and she once again had the sensation that she was dreaming all of this. That nothing this good could happen to her and still be real. But she knew deep down that this was real. And on September 1st she would be on the Hogwarts Express.

This year was going to change her life. That was the feeling she kept with her all the rest of the week, and the entire month of August. The night before she was to go to Hogwarts, she stared at her packed trunk and two duffel bags, and fell asleep to thoughts of talking hats and flying broomsticks and magic wands. And as suddenly as she fell asleep, she felt herself being shaken awake.

"Sarah. Hurry and eat breakfast. Ron and Hermione will be here in a couple hours. You can't miss the train!"

--

****

So I wish I had more reviewers to thank, but I don't. Which means that you guys (And I know you're there. I see the hits I get on this story!) need to start telling me what you think of this story.

Do you like it? Do you hate it? What are some things I could change?

Anything will do.


	4. The Flaming Cushions

****

I know I said in the summary that this is all compliant with the books and interviews given by JK Rowling, but for the purpose of this story I'm killing off just a couple of more characters. Enjoy the new chapter.

"Mommy! Where's Bastian?"

"Sarah, I don't know! Why didn't you think about all of this last night? The carrier isn't ready and the Potters will be here any minute!"

"Jon! I need help! The cat is on top of the bureau and I think it's going to jump!"

"No! Bastian!" Jonathan managed to dive underneath the kitten and soften it's landing as it gave a great leap and free fell off of the entertainment center.

The morning had started perfectly. The air outside was warm and a cool breeze lightly brushed through the street and in through Sarah's open window. Everyone in the house had gotten up at 4:00 am in order to ensure that they would be ready for the Potters at 6:30 am. They had all eaten breakfast relatively quickly, and Tami and Jonathan went through Sarah's things to make sure they had forgotten nothing, and ended being able to get rid of two of the duffel bags, instead transporting some of the items into a smaller carry-on. What they had not counted on was Bastian, the little white kitten, to go MIA at the very last moment. Now, 20 minutes until the Potters were to arrive, they had only just managed to capture the kitten and were running around trying to get the cat's things together. There was a honk outside and Tami glared at the door in frustration.

"Sarah, find the carrier. I'll go let Ginny in." With Jonathan's help she managed to locate the carrier, and Ginny used a spell to get the last of Bastian's things, and Bastian himself, into the carrier. She stacked the cat carrier and Sarah's duffel bags on top of the trunk. Then Ginny pointed her wand at the trunk and ropes shot out of her wand and wrapped around the luggage. She enchanted it so that it flew neatly into the trunk of the brand new jeep that Jonathan had just bought.

Once they got out to the cars, Ginny explained the general direction in which they were going, even though the Abernathys would be following the Potters. Lily asked if she could ride with Sarah, but both sets of parents firmly said that there was no time to switch cars at the moment and that they would all be riding together on the Hogwarts Express anyways.

Sarah tried to do everything to curb her excitement on the three hour ride. She tried to sleep, listen to her ipod and read. But nothing did any good. Her heart was facing and she couldn't stop smiling. She tried to think about the Great Hall as Albus had described it, and the magical boat ride across the lake, and the image of the castle itself, silhouetted against the moonlight on top of a tall jagged cliff. Silently, she took out her wand and studied it, loving how the long piece of wood felt so right being lightly gripped in her fist. She took out her books once again and opened The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord.

Ever since that stunning discovery the children had made all of those many weeks ago about Harry Potter being famous, Sarah had read up as much as she could. She opened the book and began chapter one.

__

The Origins of Lord Voldemort

Many of us in the magical community still wonder how such an atrocity could have happened, how a madman such as Lord Voldemort could have come to power so quickly, and held control of that power so steadfastly. But perhaps these are not the things to be asking oneself. We must first look at who Lord Voldemort, and what made this monster the way we all remember him now. This limited information comes directly from sources and records which have been pronounced very reliable by Ministry and community standards. The Boy-Who-Lived-Twice, or, rather as he is now, the Man-Who-Lived, has even deemed to answer many of my questions, as he is the only person, besides the deceased Albus Dumbledore, who knows the most of the Dark Lord's past.

"I think it is important," he humbly states, "that for someone to really figure out Voldemort, they have to look at his experiences as a child and adolescent, and later as an adult, which made him so cruel and so heartless." Mr. Potter also stated that while he will never stand up for Voldemort, he understands his former enemy much more because of the information which he shared with me.

Lord Voldemort started his life as Tom Riddle. He was the result of a union between a poor, plain witch named Merope Gaunt and a rich, handsome Muggle man, Tom Riddle. Merope was the daughter of Marvolo Gaunt, a disgraced wizarding family that had once had much power and was reduced to nothing. It is also an important note to Voldemort's character that the Gaunt family was directly descended from Salazar Slytherin, one of the original founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Tom Riddle Sr. abandoned his pregnant wife only months after their marriage, claiming that the entire engagement was false. Heartbroken, Merope lived only long enough to give birth to her son, Tom Marvolo Riddle. She died that very night.

The young Voldemort spent his early years in a Muggle orphanage. Sources say that Tom was polite and handsome, but made people uneasy and afraid. It is implied that he knowingly used his powers, already strongly starting to emerge, to abuse and terrify the other children at his orphanage. At age eleven, Tom Riddle was accepted to Hogwarts.

While Voldemort was at school, it seemed that having social interaction from witches and wizards his age made a huge impact on his mannerisms. From the start, he was a very bright pupil. His teachers were delighted with him. He had many friends and was adored by everyone at school. He also played for the Slytherin Quidditch team and was prefect and Head Boy. He also won many more outstanding awards for his skills in Hogwarts. But he also made his greatest enemy and most fearsome opponent at Hogwarts.

Albus Dumbledore.

Highly respected for many of his accomplishments, the most known of which was his powerful defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald when he was merely a teenager, Dumbledore was quick to see through Voldemort's charming façade. From then on, Dumbledore became the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared.

Tami's voice jolted Sarah out of this magical world. Where handsome, green-eyed heroes defeated evil wizards bent on destroying good. "Get your things, we're here!" Sarah marked her place in the book and stuffed it into her travel duffel, then helped her mother get everything out of the car. Harry and Ginny were trying to get all of their children's things together, and both families immediately raced into King's Cross. The people they passed by looked at them as if they were absolutely insane. Sarah supposed they must indeed look very strange, although she did get a few glimpses of other wizarding children. She recognized them because they all had luggage trolleys, large trunks, and a pet carrier or owl cage.

Sarah looked around eagerly for the platform, but she only saw platforms nine and ten. She glanced anxiously at Ginny. "Platform 9 ¾ isn't here! We're going to miss the train!" she exclaimed worriedly. James rolled his eyes.

"No you won't. Just run straight at the wall and you'll go through." Sarah stared at him incredulously. He actually wanted her to run into the wall! "I'll show you." James looked around quickly, and being satisfied that they weren't being watched by any Muggles, ran at the wall. Sarah gasped and almost turned away, an image of James smashing into the brick wall flashing through her mind, but she was even more shocked when she saw what actually happened.

James ran through the wall.

As if it wasn't even there. Albus went next, and then Ginny. "Go on, Sarah, it's your turn. You can go through with Lily," Harry said, giving her a slight push towards the wall. Sarah looked back at her parents.

"What if Mommy and Jonathan can't get through? They aren't wizards," she asked. Harry laughed.

"It's all right. They're your guardians, so the barrier will let them pass." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked at the wall and braced herself. It had never seemed more solid to her than at that moment. Lily reassured her that it would be okay and started to count down. On three, she and Lily ran full speed at the wall. Sarah's heart was pounding and she closed her eyes, preparing for impact. But she never felt the jarring sensation of colliding with the wall. Instead, she found herself looking at a scarlet train spouting smoke into the air, around her, hundreds of other kids were saying good bye to their parents and getting onto the train. Sarah recognized a face or two as friends of Victoire's from the bookstore. She also waved to Scorpius Malfoy, who returned her greeting with a curt nod of his head and small smile.

James and Albus had ventured away from the entrance, and Sarah and Lily moved aside so they wouldn't be hit by the next person to come through the barrier. The station was filled with the sounds of tears, squeals of joy as friends greeted friends that they hadn't seen over the summer, and hoots and meows of various animals. Sarah's parents came through with Harry, and Sarah saw the same awestruck look on their faces as she knew must be on her's. Tami put her hands on Sarah's shoulders and looked around in rapture. Jonathan was grinning so widely Sarah thought his face would break if he got any happier. The next twenty minutes were spent saying good bye.

Sarah and her parents thanked the Potters for being so nice to them over the summer. Ginny and Harry told them that they didn't mind at all and invited Tami and Jonathan to tea that Saturday. The two gladly accepted. Rowena would be staying at the house so that they could send letters to Sarah, and also because the Hogwarts letter implied that she could only bring one pet. Since Sarah could always use one of the school owls, the Abernathys would keep Rowena for their use, and also to communicate with the Potters and Weasleys.

The hardest part was saying good bye to Tami. Sarah had never been away from her mother for more than a week, and the tears that filled Tami's eyes as she gazed at her only child was enough to make Sarah's heart break. Tami told her to keep up her grades, and to stay out of trouble. Jonathan ruffled her hair and told her to write every day, a promise which Sarah was firmly resolved to keep. The train whistled, letting all of the children know they had fifteen minutes to get all of their things and find a compartment on the train. Everyone scrambled to get their trunks, and Sarah looked at her parents. Sarah sniffed back her tears, and hugged Tami and Jonathan tightly. The three stood there for a moment, and then broke apart. Jonathan knelt down and looked deeply into her eyes, making her promise again to write. Sarah smiled and he kissed her on the cheek. Then Tami gave Sarah a light kiss on the forehead. She whispered something unintelligible, and Sarah knew that it was hard for Tami to say good bye.

She tore herself away from her parents, and lugged her things up to the train. When she got to the ramp, a tall, burly boy with coppery hair and blue eyes approached her. He was older than her by a few years, and on his black robes was wearing a silver pin with the letter "P" on it.

He flashed her a lopsided grin. "Hello. I'm Terrence Macmillan, Hufflepuff prefect," he said. "Do you want any help over here?" Sarah nodded timidly, and he grabbed her trunk. Sarah introduced herself to him. He smiled warmly at her.

"Hey, you know Helen Weasley, don't you?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's Lily's cousin." He chuckled and hauled her trunk into the train. They passed a few compartments filled with laughing children eating candy and talking about their vacations, but Sarah only managed to find James, and she didn't want to bother him. He was surrounded by many people, and was leaning back against his seat, ruffling his own fiery hair and throwing an arm around a beautiful brunette girl that looked to be his age.

After a couple of minutes, as they started to reach the back of the train with the bigger compartments, Sarah could vaguely make out the sound of Lily's voice. One thing Sarah noticed early on about her best friend was how loud she was. Lily always told her that if you grew up in a big family, you always had to shout to be heard. This was confirmed when Lily peeked around the corner of one of the compartments and flagged Sarah down. Sarah thanked Terrence profusely.

"It's not a problem. Any friend of the Potters or Weasleys is a friend of mine," he said good naturedly. She waved to him and dragged her trunk into the room. Sarah noticed that the only other people in the compartment besides Lily were Scorpius Malfoy and Albus. Sarah greeted both of them and then opened the cat carrier so that Bastian could investigate his surroundings. She was sure to close the doors before he got too close.

Scorpius watched the kitten with interest. "He's a very nice-looking cat. What is his name?"

Sarah beamed. "His name is Bastian. He's just the sweetest little thing." Scorpius didn't answer, but he smiled when the kitten climbed up the front of his shirt and sniffed at his face. The rest of the kids laughed, and Scorpius gently lifted the kitten off of him and set him back down on the floor.

Albus straightened his glasses. "So, Scorpius, how were your holidays?" The corner of Scorpius' eye twitched slightly, but he coolly answered, "Oh, they were all right, I guess."

Albus gave him a sympathetic look. "That bad, huh?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now," he responded quickly with a glance in Lily's and Sarah's direction, "I want to hear about what you did this summer while I was stuck with my parents." Albus quickly started to talk about his summer, a change of topic which was an obvious relief for Scorpius. Albus told Scorpius about the new broomstick he'd gotten, which started the boys on the subject of Quidditch. Sarah and Lily lost interest in the topic and moved off into a corner of the nice sized compartment so Sarah could show Lily the book she had been reading. Lily's brown eyes lit up when she saw the book and her mouth dropped open.

Her eyes scanned the book's title. "Dad never lets me or my brothers read stuff about Voldemort. He says that it's depressing and we don't need to know," she said, hesitantly taking the book. Sarah shrugged.

"It's okay. You don't have to read it. I just thought you would like to check it out." Sarah started to take the book back, but Lily clutched the book to her chest. She looked slightly frantic and Sarah wondered if it had been a good idea to show her the book.

"What are you two doing?" Both girls flinched and turned to see Albus and Scorpius staring curiously at them. Albus narrowed his eyes at the title, and Scorpius barely gave it a second glance. He did notice, however, the amount of tension the book was causing, motivating him to ask what was so special about the book.

"Everything," Albus replied. Scorpius looked at him quizzically, and he and Sarah exchanged a confused glance.

"What in the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Scorpius asked. Sarah silently agreed.

James grabbed the book form Lily and stared at it, ignoring Lily, who was trying to wrestle the book out of his hands. "Everything we ever wanted to ask Dad, everything he didn't want us to know, is right here! In this book!" he whispered excitedly. A bright grin was plastered to his face and he stroked the book lovingly. At this sight, Sarah and Scorpius gave each other slightly more disturbed looks, and Scorpius moved away from Albus and next to Sarah.

"What's going on?" he whispered to Sarah. Both Lily and Albus obviously wanted to know what secrets about their father the book held, but looked almost afraid to lift the cover. Scorpius looked very uncomfortable and on the verge of fleeing the spacious compartment. Sarah quickly went over how they had only just recently found out the truth about their father being the wizarding world's hero. He smirked slightly and crooked one fine, blonde eyebrow.

"How could you have not known? Haven't you ever been in public with your father?"

Lily gave him a dirty look. "Of course! But it's kind of hard to find out something like this when your father censors what you read and sends you to Muggle school for eleven years. Everybody was forbidden to tell us anything even remotely related to the war!" Scorpius looked properly reprimanded and apologized. After gazing at the book for only a little longer, Albus thrust the book into Sarah's hands.

"Here. He'll tell us in time. It'll be hard to wait, but he'll tell us everything eventually," he said, still gazing at the book. Sarah put it back in her trunk and they all sat in silence until Albus jumped out of his seat.

"We have to tell James, he said firmly. Sarah gave him an incredulous glare.

He spread his hands in front of him. "What?" Sarah scoffed.

"You want your father's business to remain private, and you are going to tell James? That defeats any point of secrecy, you realize?" Albus sat down with a defeated sigh. His eyes were still on the trunk. It was beginning to annoy Sarah and she wished he would just read the darn book if he wanted it so badly. Instead, he announced he was going to find the food trolley, which, after much explanation, sounded to Sarah like a rolling vending cart.

"And get me a box of Fizzing Wizbys!" Lily yelled after him. Albus stuck his head back in and gave her a mean look.

"I'm not getting you anything. If you want it, you can use the money Dad gave you." He left the compartment, and Lily went stomping out after him. When her fiery hair whipped around the corner and they could no longer hear the two siblings arguing, Scorpius and Sarah turned to each other. Sarah decided that he was much nicer than she had assumed him to be at first.

His chilling grey eyes bore into her green ones. He studied her, not in any offensive way, but more curiously than anything else. It made Sarah uncomfortable, and she took out her wand and nervously started turning it over in her hands. It caught Scorpius' attention. "That your wand?" Sarah nodded. "Can I look at it?" Sarah hesitated. "I'll let you look at mine," he said, brandishing his wand and handing it to her. Sarah gave her's to him.

She didn't like the way his wand felt. It was heavier than her wand, and was too thick for her small fist, making her movements seem more clumsy. It was made of a darker wood than her's. "What's your core?" she asked him. Scorpius gave a distracted grunt. He was turning his small tawny owl into an unattractive puke green using Sarah's wand. He shook it a little and inspected it closely.

"Ground unicorn horn. Why?" She frowned at his wand, swishing around a bit. "It's too heavy," she said. She flicked Scorpius' wand at the opposite end of the compartment. A spark shot out of the tip and hit the cushion, which promptly burst into flame. Sarah screamed and jumped up.

"Oh God! The seat is on fire! You know magic, what do we do?" Scorpius looked at her, panicking, until he grabbed his own wand back, pointed it at the flaming couch, and yelled, "_Aguamenti!_" A jet of water shot out of the tip of Scorpius' wand and doused the fire instantly. Now all that was left was a large, smoking hole in the middle of the cushion. The small crowd that had gathered at the door dispersed now that the action was over. Sarah and Scorpius looked at each other, breathing heavily, before they both doubled over laughing.

Both children fell onto their seat and wiped tears from their eyes. "You-you should h-h-have seen your f-face! It was hilarious!" she laughed, putting her face in her hands. Sarah could feel the seat shaking from her's and Scorpius' laughter.

"Me?" he asked, trying to put into his tone a hint of disbelief, but still laughing too hard to pull it off. "You should have heard yourself screaming like that!" Sarah pictured herself yelling like a lunatic and drawing the attention of the compartments around them, which only made her laugh even harder. In the middle of their frenzy, they barely noticed Lily and Albus run back into the room to ask about the fire.

For several more minutes Sarah couldn't speak, but Scorpius calmed down enough to explain what had happened. Albus grinned and shook his head. "Only you, Sarah," he laughed at her. Lily ran over and took the unburnt part of the seat, forcing Albus to sit on the hole. They all laughed when Albus sank into the seat. He glared and ruffled his black hair.

"Oh, come off it. Besides, we have to start putting on our robes. We'll be there soon." All of the kids pulled their robes and hats out of their trunks. They all put on their robes, but set aside the hats to put on when they got to the school. For the rest of the journey, they chattered happily about what classes they would have this year and the teachers that everyone liked and everyone hated. Sarah was so excited about the conversation at hand and the fact that they would be at the castle in less than an hour that she accidentally let five chocolate frogs escape out into the hall. Every once in awhile, a Weasley or one of Albus' friends came into the compartment and greeted the two first years.

When Albus and Scorpius were deep in conversation, Sarah quietly asked why none of the Slytherins had stopped by to see Scorpius. "His House hates him, remember? Nobody likes him except Albus and Rosie," was Lily's reply.

A boy with a shiny silver badge, whom Albus told her was called a "prefect", came by and told the kids to put on all their robes and hats and get all of their things together. He also told them that their luggage would be left on the train so that it could be carried to their dormitories. Sarah was worried about this, because her trunk was not labeled, but the boy insisted that everyone's luggage would get to their rooms. They would be arriving at Hogwarts in only a few moments. They all scurried to clean up the trash in their compartment. They ended up shoving it all in their trunks because neither Scorpius nor Albus knew how to Vanish anything yet. Sarah quickly brushed out her curly hair and put her hat on, and then quietly waited for the train to stop.

The locomotive finally came to a halt. Scorpius and Albus were looking excited, but there was no trace of nervousness at all of their faces. The two first years, on the other hand, were scared to death. They walked a slow funeral march behind Albus and Scorpius getting off of the train. All Sarah could think about was that she wouldn't get placed in Ravenclaw. She had always gotten good grades in school, and she was always being told how intelligent she was for her age. Getting into Ravenclaw should be no problem. But all the same, Sarah's fears continued to resurface.

"Firs' years! Firs' years o'er here onto the boats! Blimey, if I' isn' little Lily Potter!" someone roared. Sarah jumped and turned to see a hulking giant of a man looming over her and Lily. He had a big beard that took up most of his face, and shining black eyes. Lily grinned up at him.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Lily yelled, then gestured to her companion, "This is my friend, Sarah." The man's beard twitched in what Sarah was sure was a smile. He extended a large hand to her.

"Ver' pleased t' meet ya," Hagrid said. Sarah smiled and shook his hand. He told them to take a boat, and only four could be in each boat. Sarah and Lily climbed in and were joined by Hugo and a handsome, blonde Irish boy who introduced himself as Nate Wood. He was very friendly, and the conversation in the boat never lacked with him. He did most of the talking, but he had so many fun stories to tell about his summer that the other kids didn't mind in the least. At some point, Sarah realized that the boats were moving in the same direction, yet nobody was paddling. She gasped out loud and related this realization to Lily, who laughed.

"Of course they paddle themselves. They're magic." They all stared at the silhouette of the castle, coming ever closer towards them. It was like no other castle Sarah had ever seen before, much bigger, with plenty of turrets, and a giant willow tree in the front. The students all got out of the boats and made their way across the grounds. The students all made noises of disbelief and excited. Even in the dark, they could see how lush and green the grounds were. The willow tree waved it's branches threateningly at the students, making most of them jump and laugh nervously. The doors to the castle opened and they all filed in.

Sarah found herself surrounded by other pushing students in a large stone foyer. There were three flights of stairs to her right, and five on her left. The stone looked much cleaner than the outside, and Sarah inspected a gold plaque on the wall with moving images of witches and wizards shooting sparks out of their wands at an unseen enemy.

_This plaque is to commemorate those brave witches and wizards who fought to give us a future. We will miss you always._

Fred Weasley: Gryffindor

Remus Lupin: Gryffindor

Nymphadora Lupin: Hufflepuff

Colin Creevy: Gryffindor

Severus Snape: Slytherin-Staff

Parvati Patil: Gryffindor

Padma Patil: Ravenclaw

Argus Filch: Staff

Terry Boot: Ravenclaw

Greg Hinkle: Hufflepuff

Margourie Anderling: Ravenclaw

The list went on. But before Sarah could get to the bottom of the page, a stern looking woman with snow white hair and a stopped back called them into the Great Hall. The butterflies in Sarah's stomach were flying faster and she grabbed Lily's hand. They looked at each other and grimaced, and then followed the rest of the students through the big wooden doors into the brightly lit entrance.


	5. I'm Not Afraid To Hex A Girl

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter! Just Sarah!**

**Okay so finally I have updated. I decided that in order to help putting off studying for finals, I am going to be updating all of my stories. Especially since it has been like five months since I have updated any on here (which I am very, very very sorry about!). Oh and one last tidbit for ya'll. I've never cared for the Sorting Hat songs and I suck at poetry, so the song will be horrendous, but please bear with me here.**

Sarah filed into through the wooden double doors with the rest of the first years. An awe-struck Lily told her that they were entering the Great Hall. Sarah couldn't believe her eyes. The four tables were laden with sparkling gold silverware and older students, who watched the first years with amusement and boredom. Sarah looked up and saw that:

"Lily! The ceiling is missing!" she gasped. The red-head looked up and smiled at the twinkling lights in the midnight blue sky. She shook her head.

"No. The ceiling is enchanted to look like the sky." Sarah gaped, unable to imagine such magic as could turn the ceiling into the sky. Ahead of them was a small choir of black robed students with black hats singing as they entered and took their places in front of a long, tall table. Sarah assumed the people at the table were going to be her teachers. They smiled kindly at the new students. And then Sarah saw it: the Sorting Hat.

From what Scorpius and Albus had told her she expected it to be very nice and elaborate, but it just looked like a shabby old witches hat. The Great Hall fell silent and everyone watched the hat expectantly. Then, to Sarah's surprise, the brim of the hat opened and it began to sing.

_Welcome here new students_

_You will soon be put to test_

_To find out which house_

_Will fit you here the best._

_Do you belong with Ravenclaw, _

_the brightest of the bunch?_

_Or perhaps to Hufflepuff,_

_Who can never take students enough?_

_Maybe you fit with Gryffindor,_

_The bravest, it is true_

_Maybe to the Slytherins,_

_Whose cleverness is a virtue._

_But no matter what the house you're in _

_Always remember this:_

_The dark days are behind _

_So let us sort and then tuck in!_

Everyone clapped, and Sarah laughed, appreciating the hat's clever little rhyme. Her heart had speeded up when the hat mentioned Ravenclaw being the brightest, and she once again prayed that Ravenclaw was what she should be suited for. The little woman with the white hair picked up a scroll and read aloud the first name.

"Abercrombie, Alain." A small, dark haired boy meekly approached the woman and took a seat on the stool that the hat had previously occupied. He gave everyone a brave smile and the hat was placed on his head. After a few moments of deliberation, the hat finally shouted, "Hufflepuff!" The students at what Sarah assumed was the Hufflepuff table cheered loudly and welcomed the boy at their table. The rest of the students clapped politely.

"Abernathy, Sarah." Sarah tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach, but it wasn't working. She shakily tried to tuck a stray curl behind her ear and succeeded in smacking her hat off of her head and onto the floor. Sarah quickly picked it up, and, red-faced, sat in the stool to quiet laughter from the students. The woman put the sorting hat on Sarah's head and she awaited it's decision. She was surprised to hear it speaking into her ear.

"Well, I should've known from the first one that this year's students were going to be difficult to place. Now lets see. Very clever, likes to read. You would make an excellent Ravenclaw. But there's something else there…loyalty. Avery strong sense of friendship and pride in your abilities. Well we do have a dilemma. Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, quite a decision. But I learned a long time ago to trust my instincts after sorting Harry Potter and his friends. So it will be…GRYFFINDOR!"

Sarah could barely contain the shock and disappointment on her face. Of course, she was glad to be with most of the Weasleys and the Potters, but she had so badly wanted to be in Ravenclaw. She put on a bright smile and hopped off the chair, but nothing could have hidden the longing on her face when she passed the Ravenclaw table. She took a place with James, Albus, Christopher, Fred, Roxanne, and two blonde-haired, blue-eyed twins that she didn't recognize.

The rest of the first years were sorted fairly quickly, and Lily and Nate Wood were both sitting beside her. Hugo had been sorted to Hufflepuff, and Molly had, much to Sarah's envy, taken her place with the Ravenclaws, beaming all the while.

A woman from the teachers' table, whom Albus pointed out as the Headmistress, stood up and walked onto the podium where the Sorting Hat was sitting. She put her wand to her throat and whispered something, and then beamed at the students. When she spoke Sarah realized that she had magically amplified her voice

"Welcome students!" she exclaimed. "I am glad to see so many new faces here tonight, and to welcome those who are returning. Before you start eating, I would like to make some reminders. Magic is for the classrooms and practice in your common rooms, not to show off for other students in the hallways, so please no cursing or pranking your fellow classmates. Brawling is also prohibited. Signed Hogsmead permission slips are due by the end of this week to your head of house, and students who are below third year or do not have their forms signed are excluded from these trips. The Forbidden Forest is, naturally, forbidden," she gave a little laugh at this. "Oh, and lists of objects that are restricted in the corridors will be found on the announcement boards in your common rooms. That will be all. Enjoy the feast!"

All of the students applauded as Flanders took her place at the high table. Sarah met Lily's eyes and they both grinned at each other. Suddenly, Sarah didn't feel so disappointed anymore. In fact, she thought as she looked around at her new friends, who were helping themselves to the piles of mouthwatering food that had just appeared on the table, maybe Gryffindor was the better house for her. After all, the Sorting Hat had to know what it was doing. Finally coming to peace with the fact that she did not get into her first house choice, she threw herself into conversation with her housemates and began to eat.

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"Oh my gosh!" Sarah squealed as she took in her new room. Lily screeched and jumped onto her bed, stroking at the red hangings on them. Sarah looked around and finally spotted her trunk next to one of the large four poster beds.

"Lily, look at this place. And look at these beds! And the room!" Lily laughed and flopped backwards, staring up at the ceiling with a content smile upon her lips. Sarah couldn't believe that this would be her new room. It looked like something out of a book or a movie. The carpet was plush and scarlet, and the walls painted a light shade of gold. There was a large bay window on the wall opposite the door. To the left was a door that led to the bathroom Sarah and her four room mates would be sharing. The room was brightly lit from a source that Sarah could not place. She couldn't find any sort of lamp or candle, and soon gave up looking for the light.

Even the bed itself was more luxurious than anything Sarah could dream up on her own. It was a thick down mattress, covered by gold, lightweight cotton sheets and a red silk comforter. The hangings went all around the bed, and Sarah laughed and pulled them back and forth. Lily sat up on her knees and sighed. "Isn't it everything that they told us it would be?" she asked softly.

Sarah shook her head. "No. It's better."

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Sarah's new roommates, besides Lily, were Crystal Mabley, Joy Latten, and Rachel Wentworth. Sarah hit it off right away with almost all of them except Joy. She was very shy, and only said a few words before climbing into bed and pulling the hangings around herself, shutting out her roommates

Rachel turned to Lily. "So, you are the youngest Potter kid, right?" Lily nodded silently. Rachel beamed at her.

"Wow, are you lucky. My parents have told me all about your dad. They said he was the best wizard the magical world has ever seen. And all of the stories that they told me about him," Rachel breathed. Lily shifted uncomfortably.

"Well," she began hesitantly, "My dad doesn't like to talk about his school days. I haven't heard any of the stories you guys are talking about." Lily's voice had a slight chilly tone, and Rachel backed off. But Lily didn't hold it against her. Rachel was easy to like, sweet, heart shaped face and long blonde hair, with a disposition that was so bright it was hard not to smile just listening to her bubbly chatter fill the room.

Crystal was shy like Joy, but Sarah could tell that she was making a sincere effort to try to make friends with the other girls, and they all accepted her offer of leftover sweets from dinner while they sat on their beds and talked about what Hogwarts would be like.

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When Sarah left the common room the next day, she was surprised to find Scorpius waiting outside. "Oh, hey Scorpius. Who were you waiting for?" she inquired. The boy frowned and looked back at the Fat Lady, the giant portrait that swung open to reveal the Gryffindor lodgings.

"Albus was supposed to meet me out here at 7:00," he said. Sarah laughed and looked at his watch. She shook it and held it up to her ear.

"Scorpius," she said with a laugh, "Your watch is fifteen minutes late." She held out her own watch for him to see and he groaned.

He ran a hand through his white- blonde hair and grinned at her. "I've been standing out here for ten minutes," he admitted. Sarah giggled and he shifted his book bag onto his other shoulder. "Oh well. Do you want to walk down to the Great Hall with me?" Sarah thanked him gratefully and headed down to breakfast with him.

"To be honest, I don't think I would have found it again on my own," she told him. Scorpius snorted in response.

"It's easier once you've been here for a week or so," he explained. They walk along in silence, Sarah studying Scorpius as she walked. He was obviously one of those people that disliked any kind of small talk. He walked with the arrogance of someone who knew that he was a lot luckier in life than most people, and enjoyed flaunting that. Sarah had seen some of the Slytherins. Scorpius spoke and acted like them most of the time, so she didn't see why the Slytherin house would hate him.

Sarah had probably been looking at him longer than necessary, because he scowled at her with pale, narrowed eyes. "What's wrong?" Sarah shook her head.

"Nothing," she answered quietly, "I was just wondering…never mind." Scorpius arched one blonde eyebrow.

"What were you wondering?" Sarah bit her lip and looked down. She wanted to ask him why she never saw him with any of the Slytherins, but she didn't want to be rude. As they were turning the corner though, three of his housemates passed by them. They stopped and whispered amongst themselves, and then one of the boys approached Scorpius. He eyed the boy suspiciously and put himself a little in front of Sarah.

The boy approaching was a tall black boy, older than Scorpius, with almond shaped eyes and high, delicate cheekbones. The look he and Scorpius gave each other was certainly not friendly, in fact, it was deepest loathing on Scorpius' part. "Zabini," he greeted.

Zabini smirked and nodded to Scorpius. "Ah, little Malfoy. And how are you? It's been a few weeks." Scorpius gave him a chilly glare.

"Same as always. Of course, I found I became significantly more relaxed towards the end of the holidays when a certain family staying with me was gone and not trying to curse me every time I turned my back." Zabini chuckled darkly to himself, as if remembering the incident to which Scorpius was referring.

"Now, Scorpius. Can't you ever learn how to take a joke?" Scorpius didn't answer. "I will see you at breakfast." The boy turned and walked away, whispering and laughing with his friends. From the expression on Scorpius' face, Sarah guessed Zabini laughing was at her friend's expense. Scorpius shrugged, as if trying to shake off the memory of Zabini, and took a step forward, only for his book bag to rip at the bottom and all of his supplies to go scattering around the hallway.

Instead of picking his things up right away, Scorpius stared blankly ahead of him. Only his red face betrayed his humiliation, and Sarah quietly bent to pick up a few of his books off the floor. Scorpius got down next to her and began to flick his wand at the broken ink bottles, blank parchment, and ink spattered books. He muttered various incantations, and suddenly the ink bottles and dirty parchment disappeared, and the ink slowly bled out of the books, until they looked brand new again.

Sarah tucked a few of the books under her arm, and shoved more into her book bag. "I'll hold these for you," she told him. He didn't meet her eyes, but nodded curtly. She watched him quickly pick up the rest of his things and resume walking down to the Great Hall. Sarah decided that she could wait to ask him about his house, and followed along after him. They didn't say anything, but right before they walked into the Great Hall, Scorpius turned her around to face him.

"I'm sorry," he said seriously, "about those guys. They are arses." Sarah smiled at him.

"It's fine. Are you okay, though?" she asked worriedly. He grinned at her.

"Yeah, I'll be all right. I'm used to it. Thanks." He squeezed her hand lightly, and joined the Slytherin table, sitting at the end and not talking to anyone. Sarah felt guilty watching him, because she at least had the Weasleys and Potters, and Scorpius Malfoy had no one.

At the breakfast table she sat down with a small group consisting of Albus, Lily, Nate, Crystal, and the blonde twins that she had seen sitting with James the night before. They gave her identical grins as she sat down.

"So you're the one James told us about?" one twin asked.

"The Muggle-born Lily met over the summer?" the other one finished. Sarah looked warily back and forth between the two boys.

She nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm Sarah," she confirmed. Albus rolled his eyes. Unfortunately, this was seen by one of the twins.

"Don't worry, Albus," the boy said, "We'll try not to steal your girl." The other twin threw his arm around the one that had been talking.

"But we can't promise anything. It's the hair, you know."

"The girls flock to it." As if on cue, the twins' laughter rang out over the table, and almost half of the girls at the table turned to look at the twins appreciatively and join in with their laughter.

Albus scowled at them. "She's not my girl," he muttered. Sarah just filled her plate and looked at her food in silence, wishing the twins would focus their attention on a different victim. She wasn't that lucky.

"Now, now, Albus," one of the twins mockingly scolded.

"That's not nice. Even though it's true," he added as an afterthought, "She's Malfoy's." The twins burst into laughter again at the look on Sarah's face. The blood rushed to her cheeks and she dropped her fork.

"W-What?" she stuttered, hoping she had heard wrong.

The handsome twins smiled widely at her. "Just kidding, Sarah," they said in unison. Sarah laughed nervously. The twins made her uneasy. She could already tell that these two were very blunt, and they tended to bring up the most awkward subjects. This went completely against Sarah's nature, who tried to blend in as much as possible and never cause any sort of disruptions.

One of the twins held out a hand to her. "I'm Lorcan Lovegood," he said. Sarah shook his hand. The other twin reached over and shook her other hand, so that she was semi-leaning across the table with her arms crossed. "I'm Lysander Lovegood," the other twins said.

Lily smiled at Sarah and chuckled. "We've known them since we were babies. Their mother is a really good friend of our parents and Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron. In fact, she and Mum were best friends when they were in Hogwarts."

While they were eating, the old woman from that had sorted them the night before passed around schedules. Sarah, Lily, Nate, and Crystal all had the same schedule. Albus had a different one, because he was a second year, and Lorcan and Lysander, who were in their third year, immediately moved to James and Chris so that they could talk about their classes.

Rose jumped up from the Ravenclaw table and squeezed onto the bench next to Albus. Her cousin grinned at her and grabbed her schedule to compare. "Well, we have Charms and Astronomy together at least," he sighed. Sarah studied her own schedule. She quickly grasped how little she actually knew of the wizarding world. None of the classes on the schedule sounded the least familiar to her. Today it looked like:

_Transfiguration_

_Potions_

_Charms_

_Lunch_

_Herbology_

_History of Magic _

_Defense Against the Dark Arts_

_Astronomy_

"What is Charms?" Sarah asked Lily.

"Oh, you know. Hover charms, Sleeping charms, Tickling charms. That sort of thing," she said offhandedly. Sarah really had no idea what Lily was talking about, but, in an effort to make herself look less ignorant of magic than she truly was, nodded in understanding. Albus laughed softly and met her eyes. She hadn't fooled him, at least.

Lily tugged on her arm, pulling her away from Albus' emerald gaze. "C'mon. I want to get a good seat in Aunt Minnie's class." Sarah waved goodbye to Albus and Rose and let herself be led to Transfiguration. They tried to follow a map that had been given to them with their schedules, but they still ended up getting lost and running into Peeves the Poltergeist twice. The first time he managed to tie Lily's and Sarah's robes together. The second time he almost dropped a bust of Rowena Ravenclaw on them.

Finally safe from Peeves' attempts to kill them, Sarah and Lily burst through the door. The classroom was empty except for the teacher, the white haired old woman that gave them their schedules. Lily ran to the front and hugged the woman gently. The teacher tried to frown, but couldn't stop a tender smile from spreading across her face.

"Lily Potter! Do not scare me like that ever again. I am far too old to have people sneaking up on me," she scolded her. Lily smiled and gestured to Sarah.

"This is my best friend, Sarah. Sarah, this is my Aunt Minnie, but now that we're at school, we have to call her Professor McGonagall." Professor McGonagall gave Sarah a small, tight lipped smile. Sarah gaped at Lily.

"Are you related to everyone at Hogwarts?" she asked incredulously. Lily laughed.

"Of course not. Aunt Minnie taught my parents and my grandparents and all of my aunts and uncles. She's known our family for a long time." Kids began filing into the classroom and taking their seats, so Lily and Sarah grabbed the two in front of McGonagall's desk. Nate and Maxwell Peters, a round-faced Asian boy from Ravenclaw, took the desk next to that, and Crystal and Rachel took the desk behind the boys. Professor McGonagall looked at a gold stopwatch on her desk and hobbled to the front of the classroom.

"Welcome, students, to your first Transfiguration class, and your first ever class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Lily and Sarah gripped each other's hands under the table, and Sarah could help but let a soft nervous laugh escape her lips. "There will be no foolish chatter in my classroom, Miss. Abernathy. Please see to it that you keep in line the remainder of this class period, after which you may feel free to giggle nonsensically around the school." Sarah immediately pursed her lips, silently vowing not to let another sound escape her mouth. McGonagall smiled slightly and nodded at her. "Thank you. Now, in front of you, you will find a syllabus of the course this year, and after we have reviewed that, we will work on today's lesson."

The syllabus was not complicated. Mostly a list of what to bring, proper classroom behavior, and a list and description of each spell that they would be learning that year. Today they would be learning how to Transfigure a piece of straw into a needle. Lily and Maxwell both got the spell within the first three tries. Sarah and Rachel were in much the same boat. First Sarah kept on mispronouncing the spell. After twenty minutes of still not managing to turn the straw into a needle, Lily finally corrected her pronunciation and she successfully managed to have a shiny silver needle sitting on the table in front of her instead of the straw.

Potions and Charms were, fortunately, much more to Sarah's forte. She loved Potions, and although the first class was spent taking notes, she looked forward to the next lesson, where they would be making a Warming Drought. Charms was also much easier than Transfiguration. She got the Hover Charm right on the first try, much to her own delight and the joy of Professor Liken. When they dismissed for lunch, Sarah felt a spring in her step walking next to Lily, who was moaning about how horrible Charms was. Sarah just grinned at her.

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Sarah loved all of her classes. History of Magic was taught by Professor Binns, a ghost! Sarah had jumped and screamed in surprise when she saw him sitting behind the desk, but Lily quickly calmed her, telling her that one day in the middle of class he had just fallen asleep and walked away from his body. Binns was so dull that Sarah amused herself by reading the textbook instead. She loved history, and got more enjoyment out of the textbook than listening to Binns drone on and on.

Other than that, Sarah couldn't wait to have classes again tomorrow. She had double Defense, and it was hysterical to see how embarrassed Lily got whenever the teacher talked to her about her father.

"It was humiliating. I thought he was going to force me to battle the Bogart that was in his cupboard just to prove my 'Potter Genes.' Honestly, the man is daft," Lily complained bitterly. Albus laughed.

"Yeah. He did that to me, too. But he's all right once he's calmed down a bit. Just give him a few weeks to get over the excitement and he'll be back to normal," Albus said, spearing a piece of steak and popping it into his mouth. Lily glared darkly at him.

"They make ones like him in 'normal'?"

Sarah covered her mouth in the hopes of not choking on her mashed potatoes and Nate laughed, a bit too loudly, Sarah thought. When they came to dinner Nate had nearly pushed Sarah off the bench so he could sit next to Lily, and he gazed at the redhead adoringly whenever she graced him with the sound of her voice.

Someone behind Sarah cleared their throat and put their hands over her eyes. Sarah laughed and pursed her lips. "And who might this be?"

"Guess," was the reply. Sarah beamed and turned to face Scorpius. "Hi! Here, sit down." Sarah patted the seat next to her and Scorpius smiled.

"Sure, for a bit," he said, taking the seat Sarah had indicated. Scorpius greeted the rest of the group just as enthusiastically, and introduced himself to Nate and Crystal. Sarah could tell right off the bat that inviting Scorpius to sit had not been one of her better ideas. Crystal quietly said hi and excused herself from the table. Nate did not leave, but instead scowled at Scorpius with angry brown eyes.

The blonde boy pretended not to notice Nate's open hostility, and chatted for a few moments with the other three. Hugo and Rose wandered over to say hi to Scorpius also, and Sarah couldn't help noticing that the content smile he wore around the Potters was much more different than the arrogant smirk that was his trademark with the rest of the students and teachers. Sarah liked this laughing, happy Scorpius much better, she decided, watching him and Albus enchant their salt and pepper shakers to duel in midair.

Scorpius' salt shaker won the battle, and he quickly borrowed Albus' notes from Potions and went back over to his table. Nate's sour face lost some of it's potency when Scorpius left, and he shook his head. "How can you be friends with him?" he asked. Lily glared, her face taking on a slight red tint.

"Because he is nice and funny and smart and a good person that doesn't judge people on what their families have or have not done!" she spat at him. Nate had the decency to look ashamed. An awkward silence fell over the group, and Sarah quickly told everyone she was going to the library. Still fuming, Lily aggressively stalked after her.

Lily didn't say anything as they walked out of the Great Hall and into the large stone entryway that they had waited in the first night they got there, before they had entered the Great Hall to be sorted. Once again, as they started to walk up the flight of steps to the left, the gold plaque caught her eye. She beckoned Lily over to it.

"What?" Her warm brown eyes lit on the plaque and her face lost some of it's venom. "Oh." They read the plaque and watched the little characters moving around on the plaque. Suddenly, Lily lifted her hand and started pointing to names. "Fred, that was Uncle George's twin, the one I told you about. Remus and Dora, Teddy's parents. They almost didn't put Remus' name up there because he was a werewolf, but Daddy yelled at them and said that Remus was just as much of a hero as anyone that fought in the war and deserved to be recognized for it." Sarah made a small noise of acknowledgement. Lily continued reading the names. Her voice was soft, almost reverential, as she identified each of these heroes.

"The Patil twins were in Daddy's year. They went to a ball here at the school with him and Uncle Ron. But they didn't die in the actual battle. Lone Death Eater got into the school the next day. Everything was complete chaos and he managed to get them alone." Sarah squinted at one of the names. It sounded very familiar, but she couldn't place where she had heard it.

"Who was Severus Snape?" Lily stared at the plaque, puzzled, and then turned to Sarah. She looked frustrated, in a way.

"That's a good question, actually. Something everybody wonders about. A lot of people say he was evil and death was too good of a reward for him. And then a few others say that he really was on our side. I don't think anybody will ever really know for sure. Except my dad, of course," she added quickly, "He was sure enough to make the man Albus' namesake."

Sarah stared at Severus' name on the plaque a bit longer, and then turned to face Lily. The red-head grinned at her. "You weren't really going to the library, were you?" Sarah smiled in response and shook her head. "Let's just go back to the common room. I'll teach you to play Exploding Snap." They turned and began up the stairs, until a noise caught their attention. Somebody running.

Scorpius came panting into view. "Hey, girls," he gasped. He bent over, putting both hands on his knees and bending over. Not even a second later, Albus blew into the hall, looking just as frazzled as Scorpius. The boys checked quickly behind them, and then slumped against the wall with the plaque.

Lily and Sarah stared at them in confusion, and Sarah glanced over in the direction Albus had been looking. She didn't see anybody coming.

"Um. What are you guys doing?" Sarah asked.

Albus met Scorpius' eyes and then shook his head. "Nothing. I'll tell you when we get back to the common room." Scorpius glared at him.

"No, you won't," he growled. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Oh, c'mon Scorpius. It's just Lily and Sarah. They're bound to find out from someone else." Scorpius still had the same stubborn gleam in his eyes, and his lower lip stuck out slightly.

Lily laughed. "Stop pouting, Scorpius."

"I'm not pouting!" Sarah bit her lip to stop herself from joining in Lily's and Albus' laughter. Scorpius still looked angry, and it wouldn't help matters if she lost it, too. Scorpius sighed, defeated. "Okay. Sarah, remember this morning? Well, I thought that I would get Etchon back for splitting my book bag." Both girls covered their mouths.

"Oh no, Scorpius," Sarah moaned, "What did you do?" Scorpius shrugged.

"I tripped him." Lily put her hands on her hips.

"That's all?"

Albus raised his hand slightly. "Well," he began, "You see Zabini went completely berserk on him. He tried to curse Scorpius. And I couldn't just let it happen. So one thing led to another and….." Albus' voice trailed off and he met his sister's glare with a sheepish smile. Lily flipped her red hair back.

"You got into a duel in the Great Hall?" she shrieked. Scorpius and Albus looked at each other and shrugged. Sarah couldn't help but giggle at the thought of the two best friends double-teaming the obnoxious older Slytherin. Lily's glare faded and soon all four kids were laughing hysterically in the hallway.

"MALFOY! POTTER!" came an enraged shriek. The sight that came around the corner made Lily drop to the ground. Both she and Sarah could hardly breath from laughing so hard.

Zabini was now bright pink with fuzzy blue antennae sprouting from the top of his head. His face was twisted with rage and embarrassment, and the death glare was settled directly on Scorpius and Albus, who were wiping the tears from their eyes. Zabini's friends from earlier were less than amused.

Lily pounded the floor with her tiny fists. "Zabini-" she gasped, "That- is an amazing color on you." Her body was shaking with laughter.

Zabini was seething and turned his gaze to lock with Sarah's. "And what are you laughing at, Mudblood?" There was dead silence in the hall. Sarah could have heard a pin drop from a mile away. Zabini seemed more than satisfied by this reaction. "And you, Potter, you better watch it, too. I'm not afraid to hex a girl."

Lily raised herself off of the floor and gave him a chilly look. "That's good, Zabini. Neither am I." Before anyone could react, she pointed her wand at Zabini and yelled an incantation. Zabini only laughed and pulled out his wand, but swore when he looked down at his hands. It was almost like they had turned into mush. There was no structure to his hand at all, and his fingers jiggled so badly that he couldn't grasp his wand. Zabini glared at Lily, and the fight was on.

Shouts and curses were flying every way between the opposing parties. Sarah even got a few hits in, mostly by listening to what the other kids were shouting and turning their own curses against them. She had just used the levitating spell she had learned in charms to disarm one of Zabini's friends when they heard a gruff yell.

"What in the world is going on here?" demanded a voice. Professor Longbottom and Professor Adanis, the odd Defense teacher, came running into view. He took in the sight of the mini battle. Once again, there was complete silence. Everybody was refusing to look directly at the teachers. Professor Longbottom approached them, his face hard and slightly disgusted.

"How dare you?" he whispered. "Fighting in school. And on top of that, here, on what was previously the ruins of this school? On the ruins of a place where people died just to keep Hogwarts standing? It's absolutely despicable!" he shouted the last part. Sarah had never felt so ashamed in her life. She struggled to sniff back tears. Sarah could hear Lily doing the same thing. Finally she looked up at Professor Longbottom. He shook his head slightly.

"Up to the Headmistresses office, all of you." With that, he and Adanis walked away, leaving the children to troop silently up to the Headmistresses office.

When they were let in, they were greeted not only by a disapproving Flanders, but by all of their parents. All of the kids gulped audibly and hung their heads, awaiting their punishment.


End file.
